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v.cfi&^UAjforuL 



Fifty Years in China 



AN EVENTFUL MEMOIR 



OF 



Tarleton Perry Crawford, D. D. 



BY 

REV. L. S. FOSTER 




1909: 

BAYLESS-PULLEN COMPANY 
NASHVILLE, TENN. 



-ws*B- 1 
3 A fc 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

FEB 8 1909 

Copyright Entry 
UjLASS Ow XXc, No 

■2-307-5^ 



COPY 



J 



Copyright, 1909 

BY 

L. S. FOSTER and G. P. BOSTICK 






DEDICATION 



To all persons everywhere who love "the old paths" 

and seek to walk therein is this book 

affectionately dedicated 



PREFACE 



I esteem it both an honor and a privilege to write a 
preface to this book. 

While the book is prepared as a memoir of Dr. 
Crawford it will necessarily also set forth, to a large 
extent, the life and work of Mrs. Crawford, because 
they were not only one by God's law of matrimony, 
but for half a century their lives were so interwoven 
in labors and sorrows, hopes and joys, that it is im- 
possible to entirely separate them in any account of 
their life work. 

During the last decade of the fifty years they labored 
together in China, it was the writer's privilege to be 
associated with them almost as a son with parents, and 
it is a joy to still be associated with Mrs. Crawford in 
the work. 

In the more than one hundred years of modern mis- 
sionary history, it has been granted to probably less 
than five couples to labor together fifty years on any 
mission field of the world as did Dr. and Mrs. Craw- 
ford. This fact alone is sufficient to impart peculiar 
interest to any account of their lives. Then consider- 
ing the sum of the years of their united labors, it 
amounts already to one hundred and seven years, while 
Mrs. Crawford's continuance in active work is even 
increasing this total. Then again the period covered 



vi PREFACE. 

by their lives is perhaps the most remarkable half 
century in the history of the human race. This is true 
whether we consider the events of the military, the 
political, the commercial, or the religious world. The 
following are some of the epoch-making wars of this 
period: On her own soil England, France and Japan 
have each gained important victories over China; the 
brief but very important victory of the Allied Powers 
in 1900; and Japan's noted victory over Russia in 
1905 ; also several very important internal wars, the 
most important of which was the Tai Ping rebellion, 
in which it is probable that more lives were lost than 
in any other war in history. In other parts of the 
globe have occurred the Crimean, the Indian mutiny, 
the Franco-German, the South African, the American 
Civil, and Spanish-American wars. 

Political changes have also been quite as remarkable. 
China herself, a monarchial form of government, 
hoary with forty centuries of age and reeking with 
cruelty, has so far advanced as to agree to offer her 
people a constitutional government. Some one has 
well said that she has advanced more during the past 
two than during the two thousand previous years ! 
Japan has awaked, Rip Van Winkle-like, from centu- 
ries of ignorance, cruelty and selfishness of govern- 
ment, and has taken her stand in the front rank of 
enlightened nations, while our own loved country 
has arisen from being a weak and unconsidered power 
to perhaps the second place in the family of nations. 
England has in this time gained the ascendency in 
Egypt and the control of the Suez Canal. Almost 



PREFACE. vii 

the entire remarkable reign of the great and good 
Queen Victoria also fell within this period. In Europe 
the German Empire has been formed, Italy has thrown 
off the yoke of the Pope, and Spain has lost the last 
of her colonies. Africa, from being a region marked 
unexplored, has become a continent, traversed in its 
length and breadth by missionaries and commerce, 
and over which diplomats of the great powers match 
their wits. Slavery has also practically ceased in all 
the world. 

In the commercial world, too, progress has been 
phenomenal. In 1852, when Dr. and Mrs. Crawford 
reached China, the railroad mileage of the world could 
easily be counted within thousands of miles, while now 
it rolls far up into the hundreds of thousands. Then 
there were comparatively few telegraph lines, now 
overland throughout the world is a network of tele- 
graph and telephone lines, while all the great oceans 
are crossed by cables, and wireless telegraphy has 
become a common means of communication with ships 
on the high seas. Then sail vessels of perhaps never 
over a thousand tons capacity carried the commerce 
of the world at a snail-like rate, requiring often six 
or more months to convey goods and passengers from 
New York to China; now all the waters of earth are 
rapidly plowed by huge ships of from three to thirty 
thousand tonnage— almost cities afloat. These huge 
steamers now carry passengers, mails and freight from 
New York to Shanghai in from twenty to thirty-five 
days ! One line is now delivering mails to Hong Kong 



viii PREFACE. 

from London across Canada and the Pacific in about 
twenty-five days. 

In the religious world many of the most noted char- 
acters of the Christian era have come upon the stage 
and finished their courses during this half century. 
Suffice it to mention only one. The London ministry 
of Charles Hadden Spurgeon began two years after 
Dr. and Mrs. Crawford arrived in China, and he 
laid down his cross to receive the crown ten years 
before Dr. Crawford was called to his reward. 

But most wonderful of all have been the triumphs 
which Christianity has won in her conflict with the 
heathen and uncivilized peoples of the earth. The 
increased facilities for reaching the ends of the earth 
with the gospel, which have developed in connection 
with the commercial progress of the world, are most 
marked, and have greatly aided in these gospel 
triumphs. In 1852 these young missionaries journeyed 
in much discomfort from New York around the Cape 
of Good Hope to Hong Kong in one hundred and 
two days — at that time a record-breaking trip. When 
just fifty years later Mrs. Crawford was returning, 
it was possible for her to travel from New York to 
Shanghai, in superb comfort and luxury, in twenty- 
three days ! The time has since been shortened to 
nineteen days! Then there were in China from all 
Christian nations about one hundred Protestant mis- 
sionaries, confined for residence to the then five open 
ports, and for travel to an absence of not more than 
twenty- four hours from any of these ports ; now there 
are nearly four thousand missionaries residing in all 



PREFACE. ix 

parts of the Empire, some requiring three months' 
travel to reach their interior homes, and with unlimited 
privileges of travel. Then about one hundred of 
China's four hundred millions professed Christianity; 
now there are over two hundred thousand church mem- 
bers. And this takes no notice of the hundreds of 
missionaries and tens of thousands of native Christians 
whose graves are in every province of the Empire. 
What has thus taken place in China is only a sample 
of what has been going on in all heathen countries, 
even to a more marked degree, especially among the 
savages of the Islands of the Seas. This period has 
also been eminently marked by the extra attention 
given to the study of the science and methods of 
missions. During all his missionary life Dr. Craw- 
ford was a close student of the methods of missions, 
as these pages will clearly show; and it is this that 
will render this book invaluable to those interested 
along these lines. 

I have only hinted at many of the great events 
of these fifty years in order to emphasize in what an 
eventful period these two closely knitted lives were 
spent in earnest and faithful effort to make known 
to benighted China the light of life. The book in treat- 
ing of their lives and work must needs touch many 
of these events. Moreover the record of these long 
and faithful lives cannot fail to have much that will 
be interesting, instructive and helpful in the absorb- 
ing and most important of all the questions now 
engaging the human mind, namely, that of the com- 
plete evangelization of the whole world. 



x PREFACE. 

Most earnestly and heartily therefore, do I commend 
the book to the attention of the reading public. I sin- 
cerely pray that its reading may be blessed in stimu- 
lating many to emulate these lives as herein portrayed 
in a more earnest, enthusiastic and intelligent service 
of him "who loved us and gave himself for us." May 
many of the young who read it be so touched and fired 
by the Holy Spirit as to offer their lives unreservedly 
to labor in behalf of the world's yet unevangelized 
millions. G. P. Bostick. 

Nashville, Tenn., December, 1908. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE. 
Introduction xiii 

CHAPTER I. 
Why Write ? 19 

CHAPTER II. 
Early Life of T. P. Crawford 22 

CHAPTER III. 
Early Life of Mrs. Crawford 29 

CHAPTER IV. 
Courtship and Marriage 36 

CHAPTER. V. 
The "Setting Apart" — Sailing 49 

CHAPTER VI. 
In a Strange World 54 

CHAPTER VII. 
Beginning Work 62 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Gathering Clouds 68 

CHAPTER IX. 
Conversions, Baptisms, Difficult Questions 82 

CHAPTER X. 
First Visit to the Home Land, Shipwrecked 98 

CHAPTER XL 
Visit to the Tai Ping Rebels 109 

CHAPTER XII. 
Troublous Times 121 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Removal to Teng Chow, Shantung Province 135 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. page. 
Beginning of the Monument Street Church 147 

CHAPTER XV. 
Progress Under Difficulties 156 

CHAPTER XVI. 
This and That 169 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Second Visit to the Home Land 179 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Street Preaching and Other Labors 192 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Changes and New Openings 203 

CHAPTER XX. 
Serious Questions 213 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Withdrawal from the Board 226 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Breaking Up 234 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Seeking New Fields 244 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Boxer Uprising, Home at Last 258 

CHAPTER XXV 
Outlines of a Sermon by Dr. Crawford 2^ 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Estimate of Character 291 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Statement of Principles and Arguments 300 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Literary Work, Letters, Conclusion 310 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
"A Poem for the Churches" 336 



INTRODUCTION 



There are but two chapters in ecclesiastical history. 
One of them deals with the brief times in which indi- 
vidual Christians and worshipping congregations were 
living beings, having Jesus as the head of the frame- 
work, which was also the shrine of the Holy Spirit 
who was ever present to guide and inform. Oneness 
of heart and soul was the characteristic of this heavenly 
phenomenon. "I and the Father are one." "That 
they may all be one even as Thou, Father, art in me 
and I in Thee, that they may also be one in us." They 
"shall become one flock, one shepherd." I Cor. xii : 27. 

In these first congregations, the abundant life and 
energy overshadowed mere organization ; and fraternal 
love with abounding charity was a stronger bond than 
external unity or loyalty to an institution. The eccle- 
sias were electric lights, each distinct and separate, 
yet connected with the same great dynamo which sent 
out its currents to each and made them the light of 
the world. They were all shining in the 'world of 
darkness, being one in dependence upon the same 
source for life, unanimity and success. For the build- 
ing up of this body there were gifts of the Holy Spirit. 
1 Cor. xii. 

In our ordinary sense there were no officers — no 
democracy, aristocracy, nor monarchy; no laity, no 
clergy, no rulers, no ruled. It was something new 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

under the sun — a Christocracy in which the greater 
served the less and all were brethren. The ecclesia 
was to interpret by its manner of life the foundation 
words of its Architect : "I came not to be ministered 
unto but to minister.'' 

The second chapter deals with the transmutation of 
this divine ecclesia into one that lived and moved on 
human levels. The Greeks loved wisdom, and the 
Romans loved system and organization. Following 
the trend of the times Christocracy by degrees became 
monarchical. The churches began to lose contact with 
the source of divine power, and in their consequent 
weakness and isolation they began to turn to each 
other for help. First association, second confedera- 
tion, third suppression of freedom, and conformity, 
fourth unification which ended in a spiritual empire, 
homogeneous with the Roman empire, which as an 
organization had already been depicted by an inspired 
writer as a beast with ten horns and seven heads, 
whose image had to be worshipped on the pain of 
death and whose mark on their person was the only 
license for buying and selling. There was always a 
protest against the inverted Christocracy and the en- 
throned orientalism under religious auspices. In mod- 
ern times the protest comes from two sources, one 
political, the other religious — the modern political 
movements in favor of a fuller democracy, and the 
smaller religious movements to cut loose from tradi- 
tion and return to New Testament theory and practice. 
The point of contact between these movements is the 
recognition of man's worth — his individuality. 



INTRODUCTION. xv 

Dr. Crawford went to China as a missionary under 
the direction of the Board of the Southern Baptist 
Convention, and was faithful in the performance of 
his duties. Cut off from home and immersed in the 
surrounding paganism, he began to scan New Testa- 
ment times and preaching models. His experience on 
the field led him apart from some workers and in the 
simplicity of his truth-loving and truth-seeking heart, 
he returned to America to lay before the Board the 
truths as he saw them. Of course it ended in his 
being "dissolutioned," and in the loss of reputation at 
home in consequence of official opposition. True to its 
instincts an institution cannot say "I must decrease but 
he must increase." It is voiced rather by a certain 
high priest: "It is expedient for you that one man 
should die for the people and that the whole nation 
perish not." That is still the honest and very prevalent 
opinion that an institution is worth more than a man, 
that its welfare is more important than the prevalence 
of a particular truth. 

Dr. Crawford returned to his work. The majority 
of the Baptists at home favored his views, but power 
of an organized minority made it dangerous and un- 
popular for a minister to follow the leader who was 
trying more nearly to follow Christ. The truths he 
was upholding were partly handicapped by a follow- 
ing which was more political than religious in its nat- 
ural distaste for an oligarchy, and which entirely 
missed the deeper meaning of self-abnegation in carry- 
ing out their marching orders. Others who were pro- 
founder in their convictions and clearer in their views 



xvi INTRODUCTION. 

stood with him to the end; while here and there the 
weaker and less conscientious began to seek more ver- 
dant fields of service, or a refuge from shafts of 
ridicule. 

He came to the grave in a ripe old age. He loved 
his brethren and was infinitely pained by their loss of 
fraternal regard and by the misrepresentations of his 
non-admirers, but he was moved by none of these 
things. "A man who is born the second time is born 
honest/' was one of his characteristic expressions. He 
bought the truth and sold it not. He loved his breth- 
ren, but he loved the truth as he saw it more than his 
brethren. When it came to a choice between loyalty 
to an institution and to the truth, it seemed to him 
also to be better to obey God rather than man. 

In the current judgments of the day his life would 
not be called a success. No man out of the swim can 
succeed in the eyes of the many; but a juster esti- 
mate puts him into that class of men who stand apart 
and see more clearly the issue of things, and in their 
love of, and search for, the truth are separated from 
their fellows. He was wise by experience, deeply 
versed in the sacred writings, a profound philosopher, 
and' yet he was simple and kind-hearted as a child, 
affable and instructive in his conversation, free from 
duplicity and guile, and, in short, a man whose pres- 
ence was of a positive, elevating order. Most men 
find it hard to pull together occasionally their practice 
and their theory, but our brother Crawford's theory 



INTRODUCTION. xvii 

could be gathered from his practice. May his kind 
never perish from the earth ! 

H. T. Cook. 
Furman University, Greenville, S. C. 



Fifty Years in China 



CHAPTER I. 



WHY WRITE? 



In an epistle to one of the New Testament churches, 
the Apostle Paul exhorts the brethren that they seek 
to know those who labor among them in the Lord, 
and esteem them very highly in love for their work's 
sake. It was a favorite maxim and fundamental prin- 
ciple of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of Roman Cath- 
olic Jesuitism, that, to be successful in any enterprise, 
every leader "know his men." He established a com- 
plete system of espionage around all the workers of 
his order, and knew their every movement. He knew 
his men. But this was in order that his organization 
might the more successfully tyrannize over the hearts 
and consciences of men. For a higher and nobler 
purpose we should seek to know those who have been 
called to special labor among us in the advancement 
of the Redeemer's kingdom, that we may have an 
intelligent and sympathetic appreciation of their per- 
sonal qualities and the conditions that surround them. 
Thus we may be able to have fellowship with them in 
their toils, and by our prayers and sacrifices render a 
really sustaining support. Thus alone, too, can we 
gain the often invaluable benefits of the lessons to be 
learned from their lives. 



20 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

These pages are written that our people may be- 
come the better acquainted with two among the most 
earnest missionaries sent to China by Southern Bap- 
tists. While it is unusual to write a memoir of the 
living, it will be evident to all who are conversant 
with these persons, Tarleton Perry Crawford and 
Martha Foster Crawford, that their aims, labors, joys, 
sorrows, hopes and sufferings for Christ's sake were 
so completely interwoven and identical as to render it 
quite impossible to write the history of the one with- 
out, more or less, that of the other. The former ex- 
changed the cross for the crown in 1902; the latter, 
advanced in years, still lingers upon the shores of 
time and is continuing her life work in and around 
Taianfu, China. 

Aside from the privilege of knowing these two 
servants of the blessed Master, it is a great pleasure 
to become acquainted with the stirring events and 
thrilling experiences which have been crowded into 
their lives. If we mistake not, the mere perusal of 
these narratives will prove more fascinating than any 
romance. 

It is in the hope that the plain, unvarnished history 
of Dr. and Mrs. Crawford, taken apart from all con- 
troversy, may glorify God and edify His people, that 
the writer has consented to tell this story of their lives. 
But who could properly depict such lives, having never 
been on the field where they have been lived ? Indeed, 
who could justly portray them, even though moving 
in the same scenes, and beholding personally the same 
panorama ? 



WHY WRITE? 21 

Nevertheless, it was eminently fitting that some one 
who loved and appreciated them, and as far as possible 
sympathized with their Christian heroism, should pre- 
sent a memorial of their consecrated lives. While 
there is absolute certainty that the recital will fall 
immensely below their just merits, the writer yet lays 
this meager contribution to missionary annals as a 
tribute to their memory on the altar of consecration. 



CHAPTER II. 

EARLY LIFE OF T. P. CRAWFORD. 

John and Lucretia Crawford, both Baptists, were 
living in Warren County, Kentucky, in 1821. On the 
8th of May, that year, there was born to them a baby 
boy. This humble Christian home was about midway 
between Bowling Green and Glasgow, a mile north of 
the main road, and three-quarters of a mile east of 
Pilot Knob, which is an interesting landmark. 

The newcomer, the fourth son of his parents, was 
not immediately given a name, but, after the lapse of 
several years, was allowed to select one for himself. 
His father had purchased a new family Bible and was 
about to fill the records. When he came to the fourth 
son he said to the mother, "What is hts name? 
What shall he be called?" The mother brought him 
in from his play and asked him. He promptly replied, 
"My name is Tarleton Perry," and so it was recorded. 

John Crawford, his father, was an industrious and 
thrifty farmer. According to the standard of that day 
he had a moderately good, common school education. 
He was for many years clerk of the Baptist Church 
of which he was a member. He was a descendant 
of the Scotch Crawford family, which settled at an 
early day in southern Virginia and northern North 
Carolina. His wife, Lucretia Kemble Crawford, was 
of Philadelphia Quaker parentage, and was educated 
partly in the Moravian school of Salem, North Caro- 




GRAVE OF DR. CRAWFORD'S MOTHER, AT SINKING SPRINGS CHURCH 




SINKING SPRINGS CHURCH, KENTUCKY, INTO WHICH DR. CRAWFORD WAS BAPTISED 



EARLY LIFE OF T. P. CRAWFORD. 23 

lina. She was a woman of excellent mental endow- 
ments, and possessed an insatiable thirst for knowl- 
edge. This intense desire for a higher education was 
inherited by her son, Tarleton Perry. 

John and Lucretia Crawford, early in their married 
life, settled in Missouri which was then an almost 
uninhabited wilderness. Before the birth of their 
fourth child they had removed to Warren County, 
Kentucky. Of the seven sons, the first and second, 
following the footsteps of their father, chose farming 
as their occupation. The third and sixth became suc- 
cessful lawyers, one of whom, Judge Thomas Craw- 
ford, of Louisiana, was murdered for the faithful per- 
formance of his duty during the lawless times suc- 
ceeding the civil war. He and a colleague had just 
held court and condemned a man to be hanged. The 
criminal escaped from jail, waylaid them on their 
homeward journey and shot them both dead. The 
fourth son, the subject of this memoir, the fifth (the 
father of the first Mrs. Z. C. Taylor of Brazil) and 
the seventh chose the ministry. The three sisters 
were all younger than the brothers, and had better 
educational advantages. After the death of the parents 
the brothers consulted together and gave to the sisters 
all the paternal estate. The three, each in turn, mar- 
ried, and died shortly afterwards. 

Kentucky was at that time also a very thinly popu- 
lated country. School privileges were very pooii 
Straightened circumstances demanded that the young 
farmer keep his seven boys quite busy at farm work, 
but the mother industriously taught them during the 



24 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

interims of labor. Indeed, she "kept regular school 
with them when farm work was slack, and taught them 
at night, on rainy days and at other seasons." "Like 
his mother, Tarleton was a voracious reader, soon 
mastering the books in his father's limited library, 
and borrowing all he could from his neighbors." 

"He was about sixteen years old at the time of his 
conversion. One day he was entertaining several of 
his brothers and a large number of playmates by 
preaching a mock sermon, as he stood mounted on 
the stump of a fallen tree, imitating some of the 
preachers he had heard. In the midst of his discourse, 
which was very amusing to most of his auditors, his 
brother Thomas, next older than himself, raised his 
hand at him and said, 'Tarleton, haven't you enough 
sins upon yourself already without adding the sin 
against the Holy Ghost, which has no forgiveness in 
this world nor in the world to come?' This remark 
went to the heart of the mimic preacher, who with all 
dispatch climbed down from the stump, and, with hair 
'standing on end,' as he often said, went home. Un- 
perceived, he got a large Bible, and, going behind an 
open door to secrete himself, he there lay on the floor 
face downward, and began to search it in order to find 
what it said about the sin against the Holy Ghost. 
Deep conviction seized him. He lost his appetite — 
could not work — read only in the Bible, and finally 
took his bed almost in despair. About a week after 
his brother's rebuke, as he lay telling his mother of 
his deep sense of sin and of his lost condition, she 
said to him, 'My son, whom did Jesus come into 



EARLY LIFE OF T. P. CRAWFORD. 25 

the world to save?' 'Sinners/ he replied promptly. 
'And are you not a sinner?' 'Yes, a great sinner/ 
'Then He came to save you. Give yourself to Him. 
Trust Him fully, and He will save you/ At this he 
turned himself on the bed toward the wall, and, suiting 
in part the outward action to his mental effort, he cast 
himself soul and body into the arms of Jesus, to be 
saved by Him or otherwise to be eternally lost. In- 
stantly joy filled his soul and he began to sing and 
praise God. He said, "I will spend my life in telling 
of His great mercy/ " 

He seems thus to have been called to the ministry 
from his conversion; but temptation came afterwards, 
and many years passed before he finally, once for all, 
surrendered himself fully to this work. The great 
temptation was to enter the profession of law with his 
brother Thomas, who urged him to do so. His mind 
also taking hold of a remark he had heard from an 
old preacher, "Don't enter the ministry as long as 
you can keep out," he endeavored to "keep out/' but 
he could never entirely get rid of the conviction, and 
finally gave himself up to be, as he said, "a poor Bap- 
tist preacher. " 

Having been thus converted at home in the spring 
of 1837, under his mother's instruction, he was after- 
wards baptized into the fellowship of Sinking Spring 
Church by Ephraim H. Owing, of Calloway County, 
Kentucky. He was now almost a man; his opportu- 
nities for an education had been meager, and for what- 
ever profession lay before him he felt that some ade- 
quate preparation was indispensable. Several years 



26 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

passed without the possibility of his giving himself, 
as he most earnestly desired, to regular, systematic 
study. Seeing no other hope, at the age of nineteen 
he decided to leave home and contrive by some means 
to secure his wishes. Obtaining his father's reluctant 
consent, and the only ready money he had in hand, 
two dollars and fifty cents, he started off with an uncle, 
who was taking a drove of horses from Kentucky to 
Mississippi. By the time the horses were sold he 
found employment as manager of a small farm for a 
widow and her only son. While here a little incident 
occurred which will illustrate the abhorrence he always 
felt for mean or unworthy motives. 

One Sunday afternoon as he was strolling along the 
country road at random, he came upon another farm 
house also occupied by a young widow. As was the 
custom in those sparsely populated regions, he went 
in, introduced himself and received a kindly welcome. 
In the conversation the widow informed him that 
several years previously her husband had left home to 
purchase a drove of horses in Kentucky, taking money 
with him for the purpose, and she had never heard 
from him since; she feared he had been robbed and 
murdered. Mr. Crawford asked what means she had 
taken to obtain news from him, and suggested that 
she advertise in some of the Kentucky newspapers. 
She replied, "I don't think it is worth while to spend 
money about it." With keen sarcasm, while his soul 
rose in indignation, he said, "True, madam. We 
can't afford to be spending money on every foolish 



EARLY LIFE OF T. P. CRAWFORD. 27 

little matter that comes along." She did not seem to 
recognize the sarcasm, and the visit soon ended. 

After the close of the engagement on the afore- 
mentioned farm, he attended school until the means 
thus obtained were exhausted. He then taught a 
small school and used his earnings in like manner. 
This process continued until, after a struggle of nearly 
seven years, he finally yielded himself up to God to 
enter the ministry. About this time he became a 
member of the Bird's Creek Church, Henry County, 
Tennessee, and began more definitely his preparation 
for the work to which he had committed himself. He 
studied one year at Clark's Institute in company with 
John Bateman and Granville H. Martin, which latter 
became a very eminent and eloquent preacher, dying in 
early life, in the midst of great usefulness. Young 
Crawford's funds being again exhausted he taught 
school a session and thus obtained means to continue 
his studies. About this period Peter S. Cayle (a 
minister of blessed memory) heard of his efforts and 
invited Crawford to go to Denmark, Tennessee, live at 
his house and pursue his studies in the Denmark Acad- 
emy. He gladly accepted this offer and continued there 
until he was prepared to enter college. 

"At the beginning of 1848 he entered Union Univer- 
sity, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, being sustained in part 
by the West Tennessee Baptist Convention. He was a 
most indefatigable student, never leaving anything 
until it was thoroughly mastered — thus early exhibit- 
ing those qualities of persistence and patience in study 



28 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

that characterized him through life. He graduated in 
185 1 at the head of his class." 

It having become generally known that Mr. Craw- 
ford had dedicated his life to mission work in China, 
the Big Hatchie Association adopted him, before his 
graduation, as their missionary to that country, and 
agreed to support him there, instead of Henry Goodale 
who had died in Africa. At the close of 1850 he was 
appointed as missionary to Shanghai, China, by the 
Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Con- 
vention in Richmond, Virginia, Dr. J. B. Taylor being 
then Corresponding Secretary of the Board. 

On March 12, 185 1, he married Miss Martha Foster, 
of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, and they began their 
life work together. In the following April he was 
ordained to the ministry by the Denmark Baptist 
Church, Tennessee, of which he was at the time a 
member. The following is the council of ministers 
by whom he was ordained : Champ C. Connor, pastor 
of the church and moderator of Big Hatchie Asso- 
ciation; Henry L. Pettus, Archibald McClay, D. D., 
of New York ; George Tucker, pastor of the church at 
Jackson, Tennessee; Abraham Whitson, George 
Thomas, Hugh Coffey, and William Nolen. 



CHAPTER III. 

EARLY LIFE OF MRS. CRAWFORD. 

John Lovelace Savidge Foster, son of Col. John 
Foster, of Revolutionary fame, was born in Columbia 
County, Georgia, June 14, 1800. He married Susana 
Holifield, June 21, 1821. From that time until Novem- 
ber, 1 83 1, they made their home in Jasper County, 
Georgia, where Martha Foster, the sixth of their 
children, was born January 28, 1830. When she was 
about two years of age her parents removed to Tus- 
caloosa County, Alabama. 

John L. S. Foster, or "Uncle John," as he was 
known among a large family connection, early became 
a member of the old historic Grant's Creek Baptist 
Church, in Tuscaloosa County, and one of the most 
active and consecrated of its board of able deacons. 
He always took a deep interest in the welfare of the 
church, and was known throughout the southern part 
of the county as a most efficient soul-winner. He was 
especially able in public prayer, and often with stream- 
ing eyes pleaded with the Lord to raise up and send 
more laborers to the foreign field. It was a most 
staggering blow to him when he at length fully realized 
that the Lord, in answering his earnest prayers, had 
come into his own family and laid his hands on his 
beloved daughter. 

At the age of six or seven, Martha Foster's educa- 
tion began, and was carried on for several years in 



30 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

country schools in the "Foster's Settlement/' where 
her parents resided, Among her teachers during that 
period was Rev. E. B. Teague, who lived in her 
father's family, and ever afterwards exerted a great 
influence over her. She studied during 1844 an( 3 
1845 at the Institute in Lafayette, Chambers County, 
Alabama, which was presided over by Mr. Lucien 
LaTaste, who also became a most potential factor in 
the formation of her character. It was here, in the 
autumn of ,1845, that after many long struggles she 
was converted and baptized. 

Finally completing her school course at the Meso- 
potamia Institute, Eutaw, Alabama, in June, 1849, she 
said to herself, "Now I intend to stay at home ; I am 
homesick." For a time she was happy in being at 
home, and gave herself up to the enjoyment of its 
pleasures. But she was not long satisfied, and began 
to cast about in mind how she might make herself 
useful in life. For the present she could pursue a 
course of reading and study at home, but that was not 
sufficient. In modern parlance it would be called a 
career that she sought, but there was beneath that a 
yearning that the world might be made better through 
her living in it. School teaching was the only opening 
that suggested itself for the accomplishment of this 
end. A life spent for self could not satisfy her long- 
ings, and she advertised for a position as teacher. 
Response did not come immediately, and she felt dis- 
appointed. 

On November 14, 1849, before retiring to rest, 
kneeling beside her bed, she prayed : "O Lord, Thou 



EARLY LIFE OF MRS. CRAWFORD. 31 

hast apparently closed the door of usefulness in this 
teaching, the only department of labor for Thee that 
I can see. Thou hast other work for me. I beseech 
Thee to show me, and whatever it may be, I gladly 
obey." 

The words were barely spoken when a powerful 
conviction, like a flash of lightning, darted across her 
mind, that God's will for her was to take the gospel 
to the heathen. She saw no light, heard no audible 
voice, but the impression was as deep and vivid as if 
there had been both. She sprang to her feet aghast. 
This was not the field she had sought, but the com- 
mand seemed irresistible. In vain she tried to reason 
herself into the belief that it was a passing fancy 
which the light of morning and the sight of other 
faces would dissipate. 

All that the missionary life involved rose up before 
her, and her faith almost fainted. She afterwards 
said of this experience: "I can now see that if I 
had, from my conversion, been a more living, earnest 
Christian, and had sought divine guidance in all my 
ways, much pain would have been spared me. I would 
have been better prepared, in mind and heart, for 
my life work, and probably have decided the question 
at an earlier day. I had always had a restless longing 
for something, but there was not enough of grace 
in my heart to give this yearning — this ambition I 
may call it — a proper direction. Hence, by a mighty 
stroke, God aroused me out of my indifference. For 
some days my soul was filled with gloom and almost 
despair. I dared not pray, since I could not say 'Thy 



32 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

will be done/ and it seemed utterly unreasonable for 
me to pray that God would send some one else and 
spare me. 'The world must be brought to God through 
the teachings of His weak servants. It is somebody's 
duty to sever ties and take up this cross, and why not 
mine?' Thus I kept saying to myself, but it brought 
no willingness. At my stated seasons of prayer I 
could only kneel and say, 'O Lord, help!' How to 
help I could not see. I wanted such help as only God 
could conceive and give. In about a week the help 
came. My sorrow was turned into joy. Everything 
was full of God, and therefore full of happiness. 
The missionary work was especially attractive as open- 
ing a* field of sacrifice as well as of labor for Jesus." 

Thus she spoke of her "call" to the foreign field. 
For sometime she could not summon strength to tell 
her exercises of mind to any one. She finally informed 
her parents by showing them, before posting, a letter 
she had written to a dear friend. Long afterwards she 
said, in referring to this period, "If, from that time, 
I had made a full surrender of my all to God — indeed 
I seemed to have done so — but if I had kept steadfastly 
in that position of full surrender, faith and obedience, 
and had been filled continually with the Holy Spirit, 
as was my privilege and duty, how full my life, in after 
years, might have been of fruit-bearing as well as 
seed-sowing, and how many mistakes might have been 
avoided !" 

Henceforth everything relating to missions was of 
great interest to her, and she eagerly devoured such 
intelligence. In the summer of 1850, on the recom- 



EARLY LIFE OF MRS. CRAWFORD. 33 

menclation of Mr. Teague, she began teaching school 
in Clinton, Alabama, where he was pastor. She now 
applied herself seriously to the duties of life. She 
threw her whole soul into her school work, discharging 
her obligations with conscientious faithfulness. She 
and her pupils became warmly attached to each other. 
She aided in the establishment of a Sunday-school in 
Clinton, where there had not been one before. Increas- 
ingly it became her delight, her hope, her business to 
spend and to be spent for Christ. 

Her thoughts being now unalterably turned to the 
mission work, she began in November, 1850, to con- 
sider plans for carrying out her purposes. The heathen 
world was much farther away then than now. She 
wrote her father how her mind had immovably fixed 
itself on the foreign field, and also had a conversation 
with Mr. Teague, the pastor, on the subject. Her 
father urged her to take no steps until she should see 
him. The pastor asked her not to regard it as a closed 
question that she should labor abroad, and proposed 
to write to the Secretary of the Foreign Mission 
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, asking the 
views of that body about sending out single ladies. 
She assured him that her mind was unalterably fixed, 
that the impulse was from God and not from a natural 
or romantic desire on her part. 

Returning home Mr. Teague wrote the following 
letter to Dr. J. B. Taylor, Secretary of the Board. The 
young lady's name was not given, and she did not 
apply for appointment, because of her father's request 
not to "take any steps in the matter." Could she have 



34 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

foreseen the results she might have realized that even 
the writing of the letter was "taking a step," though 
the letter was designed simply as an inquiry: 

Providence Parsonage, 
Sumpter County, Ala., Dec. 18, 1850. 
Dear Brother Taylor: The object of these lines 
is to request the views of the Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions as to the expediency of sending out single 
ladies as missionaries. I make these enquiries to aid 
an acquaintance of mine, whose mind has been much 
exercised on the subject for more than eighteen 
months, and who has advised with me more than 
once in a very serious way. I will, by your leave, 
make a statement of her case. Miss F***** is 
about nineteen years old (she was twenty-one), has a 
fine constitution, grave and dignified manners, sub- 
dued by great timidity and extraordinary piety. Her 
education is about equal substantially to that afforded 
by the best female institutions of the South, with some 
advantage with respect to solidity, and her mental 
endowments are of a high order. I have known her 
intimately from childhood. She is engaged at present 
in a school at a small village where I have preached 
a part of my time for several years. I make these 
enquiries in her behalf that no unnecessary notoriety 
may be given to the matter. Perhaps it is well to add 
that Miss F.'s mind seems to incline to the China 
field. Address me at Warsaw, Sumpter County, Ala- 
bama. Yours fraternally, 

E. B. Teague. 



EARLY LIFE OF MRS. CRAWFORD. 35 

When she next saw Mr. Teague he said the Secre- 
tary, Dr. Taylor, in reply to his letter, informed him 
that the Board had sent out one single lady as an 
experiment, and that, though they had not adopted it 
as a policy, yet her missionary desires should be en- 
couraged. Thus matters stood when another actor 
appeared on the scene. 



CHAPTER IV. 

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 

Mr. Crawford was in Richmond at the time Mr. 
Teague's letter, given above, reached Dr. Taylor. 
As a result of some conversation between them on the 
advisability of marriage before entering the mission- 
ary life, the letter was shown him. He read it care- 
fully and was so impressed that he took a copy of it. 
He had long before made up his mind that the woman 
who should accompany a man in such an enterprise 
should do so not merely for his sake, but also for love 
of the work itself. The letter seemed to promise a 
fulfillment of this ideal. 

On his way back to Tennessee he revolved in his 
mind many plans for forming the acquaintance of the 
young lady mentioned, and finally decided to go in 
person to Warsaw, Alabama, and see Mr. Teague. 
There was then no railroad communication between 
Tennessee and central Alabama. The rivers were 
swollen from continued rain, and traveling by stage 
m^ c h was difficult and uncertain. He started in Feb- 
ruary, 1 85 1, on horseback — a mode of traveling much 
more common then than now. After several days 
journey he stopped one afternoon at a blacksmith's 
shop near a country church. Of a negro, who was 
at work in the shop, he asked, "What church is 
this, Uncle ?" The negro, who was shoeing his horse, 
replied, "A Baptist church, sir." "Who is the prin- 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 37 

cipal member, and where does he live?" "Mars Jack 
Bealle, sir, and he lives a little further on." 

He went at once to Mr. Jack Bealle, who was, as he 
afterwards learned, an uncle by marriage of the young 
lady he sought. He received cordial hospitality, and 
while he and the host were partaking of refreshments 
he embraced the opportunity to make enquiries in 
regard to Mr. Teague's residence and the places at 
which he preached. Mr. Bealle could tell him nothing, 
except that Mr. Teague lived at Warsaw, and recom- 
mended that he seek information at the home of Mr. 
John S. Bealle, whose adopted daughter Mr. Teague 
had married. It was nearly dark, when after a journey 
of nearly fourteen miles over a very rough road, Mr. 
Crawford reached the place. On account of serious 
illness in the family he was advised to go half a mile 
back to Mrs. Ann Foster's, who, he was assured, could 
tell him what he wished to know about Mr. Teague. 
Mrs. Ann Foster, widow of Robert S. Foster, and her 
daughter, Miss Cornelia, were at home. Here he was, 
though an utter stranger, hospitably entertained. Mr. 
Teague and the places where he preached were the 
themes of conversation. Clinton was mentioned and 
the schools there discussed. Mrs. Foster told him 
there were two schools in that village, one of them 
taught by her niece, Miss Foster. Mr. Crawford re- 
membered that Mr. Teague in his letter to Dr. Taylor 
had referred to the lady as Miss F., the F. being 
followed by five stars, and immediately recognized that 
the name Foster would correspond. He also learned 
that Clinton was twenty-three or twenty-four miles 



38 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

distant — that Miss Foster's father lived east of the 
Black Warrior river at Carthage, and that the river 
could not then be crossed safely (for there were no 
steam ferry-boats there in those days) ; also that the 
Tombigbee river on the west, between him and War- 
saw, was likewise impassable. He was between the 
two rivers, so was Clinton, and so was the young 
teacher. He slept but little that night, his brain being 
busy with plans for making her acquaintance, for it 
was now apparent that this could not be done through 
Mr. Teague, as he first purposed, without waiting 
for the waters to subside. 

Next morning Mrs. Foster asked him if he were 
not a minister, and on his departure sent her love to 
her niece, who, she said, was at the hotel of Mr. W. 
W. Paschall, a prominent Baptist. "Tell Miss Foster 
I have lately heard from her father's family and they 
are all well." This commission was eagerly accepted 
as affording an opportunity for making the acquaint- 
ance he sought, thus solving the problem which had 
caused him so much anxious study during the previous 
night. It was February 16, 1851. Mrs. Paschall that 
evening told the young lady that a Mr. Crawford had 
called during the afternoon, stating that he was an 
agent of the Foreign Mission Board. He had come to 
see Mr. Paschall, but not finding him at home would 
call again after supper. The fact that he was in any 
way connected with the Foreign Mission Board imme- 
diately excited her interest. Later while in her room 
writing, she received a message that Mr. Crawford 
had called and desired to see her. He delivered her 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 39 

aunts message, and then their conversation naturally 
turned to missions. Judson's recent death was men- 
tioned; Goodale had died soon after reaching Africa; 
Bowen had just been heard from. Later, in order to 
draw out her plans, he spoke of the Brownsville 
Young Ladies' Institute in Tennessee, stating care- 
fully, however, that he had not been commissioned 
to make enquiries, but would she be willing to teach 
there — permanently? "She might/' he said, "consider 
the matter and let him know tomorrow; or would 
that be too far from home?" "Home is where duty 
is," she replied. "Those are exactly my sentiments," 
responded Mr. Crawford. 

She further said, "I need not defer the answer to 
that question for tomorrow. I am unwilling to engage 
to teach permanently, having decided to become a 
foreign missionary." 

Mr. Crawford had not yet told any one in Ala- 
bama of his appointment by the Board, or that he 
designed becoming a missionary. She thought he was 
an agent for the Foreign Mission Board for the pur- 
pose of interesting the churches in missions and to 
receive contributions; as indeed he was, temporarily. 
She proceeded to tell him that Mr. Teague had writ- 
ten the Secretary in her behalf, and that Dr. Taylor 
had replied encouragingly. 

With characteristic dispatch, seeing now no other 
excuse he could give for asking a second interview, 
he said: "I was in Richmond when Mr. Teague's 
letter arrived; I have a copy of it with me, and have 
come expressly to see you in regard to the matter. I 



40 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

have been accepted as a missionary to China, both by 
the Big Hatchie Association and the Foreign Mission 
Board." 

Mrs. Paschall was present during this entire con- 
versation. Promising to call again next day, he re- 
quested Mr. Paschall to walk out on the veranda with 
him, where he told him his whole circumstances and 
plans. He left, after accepting for the next day Mr. 
Paschall's invitation to make his house his home while 
in Clinton. 

It is needless to attempt a description of the excite- 
ment in the village of Clinton, and in the circle of the 
young school teacher, during the few days following. 
After several interviews, they decided to go by steam- 
boat to the home of Miss Foster's parents, and submit 
to them a proposition of marriage. Her two younger 
sisters, who were in school under her tuition, and Mr. 
Paschall accompanied them. The party boarded a 
steamer at the Eutaw landing and reached Carthage 
the next day. 

The parents were both absent from the house when 
they arrived, but Mr. Paschall, walking out, soon 
found the father and told him the reason for their 
coming. The father was astounded and his feelings 
past description. The mother's first impulse said, 
"It shall never be." Miss Foster told her parents, with 
deep feeling, that she had come to submit to them the 
question of her marrying Mr. Crawford, but not that 
of her becoming a missionary. That question was 
not for mortal to decide; God had commanded, and 
sooner or later she must go. 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 41 

The newspapers, announcing Mr. Crawford's ap- 
pointment as missionary, had not yet reached Alabama, 
and so a very delicate question presented itself to 
the parents. The father thus stated the matter: 
"How do I know who this man is, or what he is?" 
Several days of agony were passed ; even the daughter 
herself did not then fully realize her father's position 
or appreciate the anxiety he must have felt. Here 
was a strange young man, asking for his daughter in 
marriage, with not a single reference, not one ac- 
quaintance! Most men would have said "No!" and 
thus have attempted to put a stop to the matter. Not 
so her dear father, who knew her mind had long been 
on the foreign field, "lest," as he said, "I should be 
found fighting against God." 

The parents, the daughter and Mr. Crawford went 
to the city of Tuscaloosa, to the home of Judge Arthur 
Foster, the last remaining brother of her father, to 
spend a few days and advise with him. The father 
also conferred with the late Dr. Basil Manley, Sr., 
then President of the University of Alabama. Dr. 
Manley, after examining her closely on her exercises 
of mind in regard to the missionary work, gave it as 
his opinion that she was guided by the Holy Spirit — 
that her call was from God. Also he advised that the 
two questions, of becoming a missionary and of marry- 
ing Mr. Crawford, should be kept distinct, and settled 
separately. He had received a letter from his son, 
Rev. Basil Manley, Jr., who then lived in Richmond, 
and was a member of the Foreign Mission Board, 
stating Mr. Crawford's appointment and other things 



42 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

in his favor. Judge Foster gave the parents and 
daughter good counsel. It was finally decided to 
leave the question of marriage to the decision of the 
young couple themselves. They had not yet gained 
their own consent. Their first impressions of each 
other had been favorable, but the storms of anguish 
on one side and of anxiety on the other had so com- 
pletely occupied their thoughts that they had none 
left to cultivate other feelings. "Grief and excite- 
ment/' she said, "had benumbed her physically and 
mentally." 

After the decision of her parents, referred to above, 
she and Mr. Crawford had a long conversation, con- 
tinuing until midnight. Both seemed dissatisfied with 
the state of affairs, yet hardly knew how to express 
this dissatisfaction. They talked all around this sub- 
ject of so great moment several times, when at last, 
he, with his straightforward candor, said, "The short 
of it is, we do not love each other, and ought not to 
marry. We are sorely tempted to make a business 
matter of it and marry, because it is now expected of 
us, and all eyes are upon us. But we must not thus 
lightly wreck our future happiness." This so agreed 
with the feelings she had been trying to get courage 
to express that she heartily assented. After a great 
deal of discussion as to the basis of marriage, and the 
wrong and misery where love does not exist, they 
agreed not to marry. Mr. Crawford felt he had re- 
sisted the temptation and done the honorable thing. 
His mind was relieved, and next morning he was him- 
self again. He communicated this decision to her 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 43 

parents, and they returned home with their daughter, 
while he remained a few days longer in the home of 
Dr. Manley in Tuscaloosa. 

Her mind needed rest after the ten days of intense 
grief and anxiety it had undergone. She became calm 
and turned her thoughts toward resuming her school 
in Clinton. Miss Maxwell had taken it temporarily, 
and the two younger sisters had returned with Mr. 
Paschall. For a few days she enjoyed thorough quiet, 
so that, by the time Mr. Crawford came from Tusca- 
loosa, she had regained her normal state. They then 
took up the question under different auspices, free 
from embarrassments. She says, "I prayed most 
earnestly for divine guidance, and have always be- 
lieved it was given." 

After much talking, they mutually decided that there 
was no impediment to their marriage; that is, that 
there were no regrets in other quarters and no per- 
sonal objections; that there was a beginning of mutual 
attachment, which must be developed in the future. It 
would, perhaps, have been easier for them had they 
had more time to cultivate this love before marriage, 
but it was thought there were cogent reasons for a 
speedy marriage. Messrs. Crawford, Burton, Cabaniss 
and Whilden were to be set apart at the approaching 
biennial meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, 
to be held at Nashville in May. As he was to be sup- 
ported by the churches composing the Big Hatchie 
Association, Mr. Crawford was anxious that his wife 
should see the members of these churches and that 
they should see her; also that they both might be 



44 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

present at the Convention in Nashville. He appre- 
ciated far better then than she the importance of her 
becoming somewhat acquainted with Southern Bap- 
tists through their leading men. Certainly her hold 
upon, and interest in, the denomination would have 
been far less had she gone direct from her quiet home 
to China instead of visiting these bodies as she did. 

No time then was to be lost in the matter of mar- 
riage, and they agreed that as they had so little oppor- 
tunity for courtship before marriage, that it should 
continue through life. Nearing the close of life she 
feels that this resolution was kept, and secured to 
them more than the ordinary share of wedded happi- 
ness. Their minds were cast in entirely dissimilar 
molds and were very differently trained. He was 
original and eminently progressive, while she was 
decidedly conservative; he quick (not quick-tempered 
but, on the contrary, though quick in manners, was 
unusually cool-tempered and just under all provoca- 
tions) and nervous, while she was slow and contem- 
plative. With these opposite temperaments, it may 
be easily perceived that the course they pursued would 
be more apt to bring them happiness than if they had 
been madly in love, and married with expectation that 
happiness would come of itself. To his maturer judg- 
ment the result was largely due. He was twenty-nine 
years old and she was twenty-one. 

It was during a walk one afternoon, after Mr. Craw- 
ford's return from Tuscaloosa, that they settled the 
matter. There was a schoolhouse about half a mile 
distant, and they had gone in that direction. In this 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 45 

schoolhouse the words were spoken, and an earnest 
prayer was offered for God's blessing. It was dark 
when they reached home, and as several members of 
the family were present, nothing was said of the 
matter for sometime. 

After supper, as the family were engaged in even- 
ing worship, all were surprised by the arrival of an 
absent son. This was John A. Foster, afterwards 
Chancellor of the Southern District of Alabama. He 
was then teaching school at Crawford, Mississippi, 
and had come over to Clinton, partly on business and 
partly to see his sisters. There, learning the astound- 
ing news that the eldest of the sisters had left for 
home with the intention of going to China, he was so 
eager to hurry on to his father's to stop this madness 
that he had traveled a day's journey after dinner. 
Immediately after prayers, Crawford retired, and 
John A. Foster spoke, almost the first time since his 
arrival. "Is it true, Sister Martha, that you mean to 
marry this man and go to China?" he asked, with 
intense emotion. "It is true," she replied. 

Her parents thus first heard of the final decision 
of the young couple. Her father looked at her and 
asked, "You have so decided, then?" "Yes," she 
said, "late this afternoon." 

Her heart seemed almost breaking, but she dared 
not shed a tear or give way to a sob, as she felt that 
such would so unnerve her that she could not bear up 
through the trials that were before her. 

Her brother denounced the scheme as madness, 
and thought duty to her parents ought to restrain 



46 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

her. "There are higher duties that impel me to go," 
she replied. He would not admit these "higher 
duties/' and thought the father ought to prevent her 
by force, just as he would if he saw her put a knife 
to her throat for suicide. It was all new to him. He 
did not know the mental preparation through which 
she had been going for more than a year. He thought 
this stranger had come along and a sudden romantic 
fancy was taking his sister off. He returned to his 
school next day calmer, but not satisfied. Indeed, it 
was many years before he could tell her that he was 
reconciled to her being a missionary. 

The next week was one of agony. Tears met her 
on every side, yet she must not weep. At night her 
pillow would be wet with the overflowing drops; the 
fountain she dared not touch. Her father expressed 
surprise at her absence of deep grief, while their 
hearts were breaking. Her reply was, "O, if you 
knew the anguish that is rending me you would not 
think it too little. It is too deep for tears, sighs or 
words. I dare not give way to it for a moment." 

She was taking a step purely, simply, in faith, and 
believed without the shadow of a doubt that she was 
guided by the divine hand. Never for one moment did 
she falter. Not once was she tempted to doubt that 
God was thus calling her in both these steps. Other- 
wise surely her strength would not have been suffi- 
cient. 

On March 12, 1851, one week from their engage- 
ment, they were married at her home soon after break- 
fast by Dr. Basil Manley, Sr. Mr. Elbert Norris and 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 47 

his wife, who was a cousin of the bride, and a few 
others, were present at the marriage. During the 
ceremony there were sobs all around. Dr. Manley 
wept, and tears streamed down the cheeks of the 
bride, but these were only the overflow. She long 
remembered much of the good man's talk, for the cere- 
mony was mainly a familiar, loving talk. They ac- 
companied Dr. Manley home to Tuscaloosa for the 
night. Next day in Foster's Settlement they met a few 
of the bride's relatives at her elder sister's and then 
left the neighborhood, going to Mobile and New Or- 
leans by water. Thus far they had the company of 
her cousin, Rev. Joshua H. Foster, who had business 
matters in Louisiana. 

In New Orleans the bride, for the first time, met 
one of her husband's friends. This was Rev. Peter 
S. Gale, of Memphis, a leading member of the Big 
Hatchie Association. Mr. Crawford had lived in his 
home for a year or more, and they were strongly 
attached to each other. He had learned in Mobile 
that Mr. Gale was in New Orleans, and after a long 
search they finally met in Mr. Crawford's hotel. His 
warm greeting to Mrs. Crawford, "Welcome, my sis- 
ter, as our missionary," and his gentle, loving voice 
won her instantly. Several days were spent pleasantly 
in that city, when they left on a steamer for Memphis. 
In conversation, Mr. Crawford remarked to Mr. Gale, 
"My marriage, altogether, has been rather peculiar." 

"Otherwise it would not be like my brother Craw- 
ford," was the smiling reply. 



48 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

In Memphis they met a number of Mr. Crawford's 
friends. They had heard nothing of him from the 
time he went to Richmond to see the Board until they 
received letters from him announcing the astonishing 
news of his marriage in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Of 
course all were anxious to know how he made the 
acquaintance of his wife, and the romantic story 
must be gone over as each newcomer's curiosity de- 
manded. All were strangers to her, yet she received 
nothing but kindness and friendly interest. 

The six weeks spent in the bounds of the Big 
Hatchie Association were pleasant, and she ever re- 
membered with gratitude many tokens of sincere at- 
tachment. In May they went to Nashville to be 
present at the Southern Baptist Convention. Then a 
few days were spent in Murfreesboro where they 
met a number of Mr. Crawford's fellow students, and 
where Mrs. Crawford for the first time met Dr. Bur- 
ton who was to be their fellow-laborer in China. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE "SETTING APART" SAILING. 

This was Mrs. Crawford's first attendance at one of 
the general meetings of the Baptists, and she was much 
interested in the proceedings of the Convention. A. B. 
Cabaniss, G. W. Burton, M. D., T. P. Crawford, Mrs. 
Crawford and B. W. Whilden were solemnly set apart 
to the work of foreign missions, and to the China 
field in particular, Mrs. Crawford being the only lady. 
A Bible was presented by the Convention with an 
address to each of the male missionaries. The Ala- 
bama delegation presented to Mrs. Crawford a Bible 
and a hymn book, delivered in public by Rev. E. B. 
Teague whom Mr. Crawford met at this Convention 
for the first time. 

They were invited by some of the Kentucky brethren 
to visit that state and there have their outfit prepared. 
To this they consented. A long voyage, twice crossing 
the tropics, required a great many changes of clothing, 
and no washing could be done on the voyage. As they 
had been married without any time for such prep- 
aration, and had been constantly traveling ever since, 
this special outfitting was necessary. Preparations 
that might now be made in a few days by visiting 
ready-made clothing and other stores, then and there 
required much time and tedious labor. They visited 
Covington, Georgetown, Lexington, Augusta, Mays- 
ville and some other places, remaining until the last 



50 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

of August. They then went on to Baltimore, having 
heard from Dr. Taylor that there was a probability 
of their sailing on The Mandarin. They soon learned, 
however, that The Mandarin was filled with other 
passengers and could not take them. 

At length, after long waiting which afforded ample 
time to make all their arrangements, they sailed from 
New York in company with Dr. Burton, of their mis- 
sion, November 17, 185 1, on the then old-fashioned 
ship Horatio. She was built of live-oak timber many 
years before the days of "clippers," not for passengers, 
but for the tea trade. She was safe but not very com- 
fortable, having no port holes or other ventilators be- 
tween decks, and the only opening for fresh air was 
through the companionway and the hatches. When 
rough weather required these to be battoned down, the 
sufferings of passengers was intense. Captain 
Crocker, in command of the Horatio, kept the ship 
clean and well provisioned, but a large proportion of 
her cargo was lead, and consequently she was stiff, 
which greatly increased the pitching, and the sea-sick- 
ness of the passengers. Those were the days of long 
sailing voyages around the Cape of Good Hope, fif- 
teen years before the opening of the first railroad to 
San Francisco and the line of steamers across the 
Pacific Ocean, and the sufferings of passengers were 
endured as a matter of course. 

An unusual succession of favorable winds drove 
them rapidly toward their destination, and the Horatio 
made one of the quickest voyages by the outer, or 
eastern passage, then on record — from New York to 



THE ^SETTING APART" SAILING. 51 

Hong Kong in one hundred and two days. The clip- 
per Samuel Russell, however, arrived soon after, in 
ninety-eight days — the wonder of seagoing men. 

Soon after the anchoring of the Horatio in Hong 
Kong harbor, Rev. John Johnson came on board and 
conducted our missionaries to the hospitable homes 
of himself and Dr. William Dean, both missionaries of 
the American Baptist Missionary Union. Even then 
premature gray hairs adorned the temples of Dr. 
Dean, and his fatherly counsel was always treasured 
in the hearts of the new missionaries. During the 
few days spent at Hong Kong they saw and heard 
much that gave them food for future reflection. After 
making a flying visit up the river to Canton, they 
secured passage on the steamer Minna to Shanghai. 
After seventeen days against a heavy northeast mon- 
soon, they arrived in Shanghai on the misty afternoon 
of March 30, 1852. 

They had scarcely anchored in the Hwong Poo 
river, opposite the foreign settlement, when Rev. M. 
T. Yates, of the Southern Baptist Mission, came on 
board to take them in charge. He was very tall and 
slender, and as he was wearing a pair of Chinese 
mud boots, the thick soles of which were studded with 
great iron knobs, he appeared even taller than he was. 
The party of four, entering a sampan, were rowed 
to the jetty where Mr. Yates had in readiness three 
sedans, with native bearers, to carry the party to his 
house, about a mile distant, near the north gate of the 
city. Dr. Burton preferred walking with Mr. Yates 



52 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

through the mud, while Mr. and Mrs. Crawford took 
sedans. 

As they entered the narrow streets twilight deep- 
ened into night. The fronts of the low shops were 
open to view, lighted by dim, smoking lamps, making 
darkness more dense. Splash! splash! tramp! tramp! 
the sedan bearers rushed on, screaming at the top of 
their voices to warn the busy throngs of their ap- 
proach and right of way. Now along the banks of a 
muddy canal, now through crowded alleys, across a 
bridge, they went tramping on. It was so dark the 
occupants of the sedans could not see each other nor 
Messrs. Yates and Burton, but took it for granted 
they were all going in the right direction and would 
reach their destination in due time. Suddenly they 
emerged from the street into an open field, dotted as 
they afterwards saw with grave mounds. Soon the 
bright lights, shining through the windows of the 
mission houses, burst upon their view, driving away 
much of their feeling of loneliness in a strange land. 
By the time the sedans were lowered at the front gate, 
Mr. Yates was at hand to conduct them in, and the 
first sound that greeted them as they entered the 
door was Mrs. Yates' cheery voice, at the head of the 
stairs, asking, "Are they really here ?" 

Mr. Shuck and two of his children were of the 
party that surrounded the Yates' hospitable tea table 
that night. Mr. and Mrs. Pearcy and Miss Baker, 
the other members of the Baptist mission, had been 
there until late in the afternoon, hoping to greet the 
newcomers, but living a long distance away in the 



THE "SETTING APART" SAILING. 53 

southern part of the city, they had gone home, in- 
tending to call again next day. It had already been 
arranged that Dr. Burton should live with the Yates 
family, while Mr. and Mrs. Crawford should find a 
temporary home next door with Mr. Shuck. 



CHAPTER VI. 

IN A STRANGE WORLD. 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford for the first 
two months was with Rev. J. L. Shuck and his three 
motherless children. It was indeed a strange world 
in which they found themselves. Strange sights, 
sounds and odors met them everywhere and filled them 
with a sense of far-away helplessness. Their only 
refuge was in the companionship of their fellow mis- 
sionaries, who had preceded them a few years, and 
little Nettie Shuck, then eleven years old, who alone 
had time to be their constant companion and guide. 
She could interpret for them ; her aid was invaluable, 
and they ever felt that to her was due a debt of grati- 
tude which could never be repaid. 

Shanghai, the most northerly of the five treaty ports 
then open to foreign residence, situated in the great 
fertile, populous Yang Tsze valley, which is intersected 
throughout its length and breadth by a system of navi- 
gable canals, was considered the most desirable of 
these ports for the occupancy of missionaries and mer- 
chants. The foreign settlement was begun in 1843, 
the year after the treaty of Nankin, among grave 
mounds, ditches, ponds, cotton patches and rice fields, 
north of the city wall, along the west bank of the 
Hwong Poo River. It was in 1852 a straggling town 
of many nationalities, growing up in the midst of a 
vast native population, constantly augmented by traders 



IN A STRANGE WORLD. 55 

from all parts of the empire. Each party being unable, 
in the main, to understand the language, ways and 
feelings of the others, the whole was throbbing with 
hopes, fears and suspicions, no one knowing what a 
day or night might bring forth. The merchants of 
the English-speaking portion of the community, being 
chiefly single men, and the missionaries young mar- 
ried couples, and all alike recent arrivals, everything 
was in the experimental or formative stage. Such 
were the conditions under which the Crawfords began 
their life in China. 

The Southern Baptist mission in Shanghai was 
opened in the autumn of 1847 by Messrs. Yates, Toby 
and Shuck and their wives. At the time of the arrival 
of the Crawfords it consisted of Messrs. Yates and 
Pearcy and their wives, Mr. Shuck and Miss Baker, 
the Tobys having returned to the United States and 
Mrs. Shuck having died the previous November. Of 
other missions there were then Southern Methodist, 
two families; Northern Presbyterian, two families; 
Seventh Day Baptist, two families; American Epis- 
copal, two families, two single gentlemen and three 
single ladies ; London Mission, three families and two 
single gentlemen; English Episcopal, one family. 
Some lived in the foreign settlement, others in various 
places among the native population. 

According to the prevailing custom, the gentlemen 
of the new arrivals were expected to call first on the 
resident missionaries, after which these would in re- 
turn call on Mrs. Crawford. . In a few days Messrs. 
Shuck and Yates led the way and thus the new- 



56 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

comers soon formed the acquaintance of all their fel- 
low-laborers, with some of whom they made strong 
and helpful friendships. While still at Mr. Shuck's, 
Mr. and Mrs. Crawford each had an attack of illness, 
one from the damp malarial climate, the other from 
the effects of the sea voyage. The mission, prior to 
their arrival, had rented a large double house, called 
Yah Joh Loong, in the southern part of the native 
city. One half was already occupied by Miss Baker, 
the other half was awaiting repairs for the residence 
of the Crawfords. A murder having long before been 
committed in this house, it was believed to be haunted ; 
and as no native would dare to live in it, the rent 
was moderate. The two portions of the establishment, 
each with its own courts and ventilators, were sepa- 
rated by an ornamental wall, pierced by a large door- 
way with elaborate molding. A great hall on the 
Crawford side, taking up much of the space on the 
ground floor, was surrounded by pillars, between 
which were rows of carved lattice doors, beautifully 
varnished. These, with many other doors and windows, 
numbered in all about seventy. The ventilators, called 
air wells, were tiny courts about six feet square, in- 
closed by walls extending to the eaves, with large win- 
dows on two sides. No wonder the house seemed 
haunted, for the voices of the city, collecting in the 
ventilators, and the wind hissing and howling through 
the latticework ail around the establishment, produced 
most weird and unaccountable noises. 

The repairs, though not extensive, made a tedious 
and trying job for Mr. Crawford, notwithstanding 



IN A STRANGE WORLD. 57 

the valuable aid rendered him by the senior mission- 
aries. In spite of delays by sickness and repairs, they 
entered their strange home on the 24th of May, 1852. 
Mr. Crawford for many years before his marriage, 
while procuring his education, was without any fixed 
abode, and since his marriage had been on the wing 
more than fourteen months. Now they had reached 
the end of their journey, the field of their choice, and 
a home among the people for whose salvation they 
had dedicated their lives. They were very happy and 
never forgot the calm, restful feeling experienced dur- 
ing their first few days at Yah Joh Loong. 

All things being now ready, they began the work 
of housekeeping and the study of the language, which, 
under the circumstances, made anything but smooth 
sailing. The cook, a raw, good-natured young coun- 
tryman, had taken a few lessons from Mr. Shuck's 
servant, but he learned very slowly, and the young 
housekeeper often found herself in most perplexing 
dilemmas. Ludicrous mistakes in ordering one article 
for another, occasionally convulsed them with laugh- 
ter, on coming to the table and finding what was pre- 
pared for them. The young housekeeper was too busy 
with the study of the language to spend much time 
in the kitchen. But things grew better as she and the 
cook gradually learned to understand one another. 
Fortunately their house woman, the wife of a deaf 
man, had attained such skill in sign-making that they 
often boasted that she could sign out an abstract 
idea. Still, whenever missionary friends called to see 
them, they had a large stock of interpreting in store 



58 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

for them. One such incident made a lasting impres- 
sion on their minds. A carpenter, delaying to finish a 
needed article of furniture, Mr. Crawford requested 
Mr. Pearcy to inquire the reason of the delay. The 
carpenter replied that the drought had made it impos- 
sible to varnish it sooner. Not then knowing that 
Chinese varnish, to dry properly, must be put on in 
rainy weather, Mr. Crawford said, "Please tell him 
that is the way Adam did, when he sinned; he threw 
the blame on his wife." A vivid impression ever re- 
mained of Mr. Pearcy's patience in laboring to explain 
to the dazed carpenter who Adam and Eve were ; how 
they had been created by the true God and placed in 
the Garden of Eden ; and how, through the temptation 
of the devil, they had eaten the forbidden fruit; and 
how they, when called to account before the Lord, had 
thrown the blame on some one else. 

This occurrence was often recalled, when interpret- 
ing for new comers. The puzzled young missionary, 
seeing five minutes consumed in translating a sentence, 
sometimes asks, "Does the Chinese language require 
such circumlocution to express so simple an idea?" 
The answer is, "No, but the hearer needs a great 
many explanations before he can comprehend your 
meaning." 

Their first teacher of the language, Mr. Zaw, lent 
them by Mr. Pearcy during his absence for the sum- 
mer, was a corpulent, lazy, thick-tongued man, without 
teaching ability. He would sit stupidly waiting for the 
learners to lead the way, though they could neither 
ask a question nor frame a sentence. There were then 



IN A STRANGE WORLD. 59 

in Chinese no "Lessons for Beginners/' no phrase 
books, no old missionary near to help out of the diffi- 
culty. Their only resource was an English-and-Chi- 
nese Dictionary to which they could turn. With that 
help, however, they managed to plod on for a couple 
of months. By that time Mr. Zaw's inefficiency had 
become so intolerable that they employed another 
teacher, Mr. Nee, to give them lessons at night. For- 
tunately he proved the opposite of Zaw, being a man 
of active mind, distinct enunciation and fine percep- 
tions. Under his instruction they made rapid progress, 
and as soon as possible engaged his full time perma- 
nently, gladly returning Mr. Zaw to Mr. Pearcy. 

During their first summer in China, a drought 
occurred which threatened a famine. A famine in 
China is a fearful experience, bringing a host of evils 
in its train, and is dreaded alike by all from the em- 
peror to the street beggar. The poor, reduced to want, 
steal; then join in bands to rob the rich, thus produc- 
ing a state of general anarchy. Under this dread the 
officials went out in state to pray for rain. The people 
gathered in long processions, paraded the streets with 
garlands of willow bows twined around their heads, 
visited the temples and burned incense. Taking out 
the rain god in a large sedan, they placed him in an 
open field to be scorched by the blazing sun and to 
be cursed by the crowd for his indifference to their 
prayers. All in vain! A fast was finally proclaimed 
by the authorities, during which no animal could be 
slaughtered. Those who had no store of meat at home 
were obliged to content themselves with a vegetable 



60 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

diet, and thus nolens volens, join in the fast. One 
morning, on going in to breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Craw- 
ford detected a disagreeable odor coming from the 
table, and found that, as no lard could be procured, the 
eggs had been fried in the crude bean oil used in 
lamps. 

As the drought continued, the heat increased day 
after day. l Their house fronted on a street about 
ten feet wide, and their only open space was a small 
open court enclosed by walls reaching the roof. The 
rooms on the ground floor being too close and damp 
for health, they occupied only those above stairs, which 
were so low one could almost touch the ceiling with the 
hand. The heat became so intense that it threw Mrs. 
Crawford into a fever, and for several days she lay 
tossing on her couch. But finally the longed-for shower 
came. While she lay there she watched the great 
drops as they fell on the scorched, porous tiles cover- 
ing a side room. A large drop would fall, a puff of 
steam would rise up, and the place would immediately 
appear as dry as ever. But drop after drop continued 
to fall upon the same spot, until finally the tiles began 
to show signs of moisture. Gradually they became 
quite wet and at last little rills of water flowed down 
between the rows. So, thought she, must the gospel 
have time to saturate the hearts of these heathen peo- 
ple. Sermon after sermon, exhortation upon exhorta- 
tion, line upon line, must be given them, though they 
may still seem as hard as ever ; for the same law holds 
good in the spiritual as in the natural world, and 
results will as surely follow causes at the proper 



IN A STRANGE WORLD. 61 

time. Thus they took courage for the work before 
them. 

A few hours after the rain the fever was gone. 
Mr. Yates having called to see them, remained until 
the shower was over, and gave them a kind invitation 
to spend the next day at his house, which they gladly 
accepted. He lived outside the city, surrounded in 
part by open fields, while his front yard was brilliant 
with green grass, bright flowers and two lovely trees. 
They were greatly refreshed by this visit, realizing 
more than ever the necessity of having occasional 
glimpses of green fields, blue skies and a distant hori- 
zon. The hottest part of the summer being over 
and the dread of famine being dispelled by the rain, 
they addressed themselves with renewed vigor to the 
study of the language. 



CHAPTER VII. 

BEGINNING WORK. 

As the bracing days of autumn came on, and their 
knowledge of the language increased, they desired to 
be doing something for the salvation of the people. 
Having read a good deal of missionary literature be- 
fore leaving America, and having constantly heard 
methods of work discussed since reaching the field, 
Mr. Crawford began to form some definite ideas as 
to his course. From the first he adopted direct evan- 
gelization as his main line of labor, and they, with 
undivided minds, prepared themselves for it. Mrs. 
Crawford, barely out of girlhood, and not feeling 
much confidence in her aggressive ability, wished for 
a day school in which she could work near at hand. 
A native, they thought, could teach the Chinese 
classes and she would tell the pupils about Jesus, and, 
by winning their love, she might gain access to their 
mothers. Not then seeing how she could go directly 
to the women of the city with the gospel message, 
she proposed to use this roundabout method of reach- 
ing them. The degradation of woman was to them 
both one of the most distressing outside features of 
heathenism, and they longed to bring her under the 
elevating power of the gospel. How to accomplish 
this was a difficult question. They had planned to go 
hand in hand in their labors, and believed the sexes 
must advance in Christianity together. As soon as 



BEGINNING WORK. 63 

Mr. Crawford should be able to preach in the chapels 
she would go with him, and by her presence induce 
the women to attend; she would form their acquaint- 
ance and privately tell them of the Saviour, but in 
the meanwhile she would open a school. 

There were already two day schools for boys and 
one boarding school for girls, superintended by the 
ladies of this mission. The Crawfords did not desire 
the former, because the Chinese are accustomed to 
educate their sons, nor the latter, because it involved 
too much expenditure of time and money. In mission 
boarding schools the girls, as their education is not 
valued, had to be furnished with food, clothing and 
much else, to induce the poor people to send their 
daughters. Without such inducements it had not been 
found possible to secure them. But they heard of one 
lady who had procured day pupils by giving each girl 
ten cash, or two-thirds of a cent per day, ostensibly 
to buy lunch. This bribery (as it certainly was, 
though they did not then realize it) seemed less objec- 
tionable than giving a full support. They could impart 
religious instruction daily in the school and still have 
most of their time for gospel work among the peo- 
ple, all the care of the children resting where it should, 
on the parents and the native teachers. Some of their 
missionary friends, whom they consulted, discouraged 
this plan, but as they proposed to bear the expenses 
of the experiment from their own private funds, others 
heartily approved. So they fitted up one of the lower 
rooms of their house and engaged a teacher. Mrs. 
Yates kindly accompanied Mrs. Crawford on a visit 



64 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

among the neighbors, and told them of their inten- 
tion and solicited pupils. In due time the school 
was opened with about a dozen girls. A part of each 
afternoon was devoted to hearing the teacher examine 
them in a scripture catechism (then in manuscript), 
and in talking to them as well as she could about the 
true God and the Saviour of the world. They were 
lovely children, she thought, and they both became 
much attached to some of them. 

One morning the teacher came upstairs in great 
distress, saying, "Only two or three girls are here. 
The parents of the rest are alarmed by a rumor that 
you intend to take their daughters to the 'outside 
country.' " After comprehending the situation, Mrs. 
Crawford asked, "What can be done?" The teacher 
replied, "Go down and tell those now here that you 
have no such intention." Again she asked, "Will my 
bare word satisfy them since they suppose me capable! 
of so great wickedness?" He said he thought it 
would. So she went down with him to the school 
room and told them in her broken way that she had 
no idea of taking them anywhere; that she wished 
to teach them to read good books, and they would 
continue to live with their parents at their own home. 
They and the teacher went to tell the other girls 
what had been said to them, and the next day all were 
present as usual. 

About the end of the Chinese year they discovered 
that the teacher was not only an opium smoker, but 
that he took two of the ten cash given daily to each 
girl. They, therefore, dismissed him, and through 



BEGINNING WORK. 65 

Mr. Nee engaged another teacher, Wang Ping San, 
who later became their first convert and a consecrated 
preacher of the gospel. His history by Mrs. Craw- 
ford has been published in a booklet. 

Their residence was in the midst of a wealthy class 
of people, many of whom came to see their foreign 
neighbors. Their broken accent, peculiar ways, strange 
furniture and household arrangements greatly inter- 
ested these visitors. Ignorance of Chinese customs and 
modes of speech sometimes placed the young mis- 
sionaries in embarrassing positions. They were one 
day invited to a wedding at the home of a rich neigh- 
bor. Mr. Crawford remained in the gentleman's hall, 
while the wife was conducted to the women's apart- 
ments. While awaiting the coming of the bridal party 
refreshments of various kinds were passed around 
among the gaily attired guests, who gave themselves 
up to merriment. The visiting missionaries managed 
to understand and answer some of their numerous 
questions. The first question asked of a stranger is, 
"What is your honorable name ?" The next is, "What 
is your honorable age?" To the latter question Mrs. 
Crawford replied, "Wait four months — twenty- 
three." This unusual answer amused the hearers ex- 
ceedingly. She could hear them repeating to each 
other and to every new arrival, "She says, 'Wait four 
months — twenty-three.' " The Chinese do not reckon 
age from the birthday, but from the new year, all 
alike adding a year each at that time. Hence she 
ought to have said, "twenty-two," until the next new 
year, when she would be twenty-three. 



66 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

In those early days, among others, a near neighbor 
frequently called. On his last visit he seemed de- 
lighted with Mr. Crawford's watch, and asked if he 
had another. Mr. Crawford, suspecting nothing, gave 
him his wife's to look at. The man saying "ten thou- 
sand thanks" (not understood by Mr. Crawford), 
hung the watch on his gown button, presented in 
return a copper incense pot, worth probably a dollar, 
and with profuse bows took his departure. Mr. Craw- 
ford followed him, not to his home, but far down 
town. The situation becoming more and more ex- 
citing as they proceeded, he finally took possession of 
the watch and brought it back, much to his wife's 
relief. The incense pot was returned to the young 
man and here terminated their acquaintance with him. 

During this first winter Mr. Crawford spent much 
of his leisure time inventing a phonetic system for 
writing the Shanghai dialect, the history of which he 
published in the Chinese Recorder in March, 1888. 

It is the opinion of some who are acquainted with 
this phonetic system, and with the present state of 
China, that, while it is admirably adapted to the pur- 
pose for which it was invented, its failure in being 
accepted for general use is mainly due to the fact that 
on first sight the learning of it seems (but really is 
not) formidable to the missionaries. A Romanized 
system was therefore adopted at an early day for 
some of the dialects. Now when China is mad on 
learning European languages, especially the English, 
and great multitudes have acquired its alphabet, it 
seems to many better for all to fall into line and adopt 



BEGINNING WORK. 67 

some particular mode of representing the Mandarin 
sounds by means of Roman letters than to take some- 
thing that is new to all parties. The latter system 
is now in an experimental stage. The labor expended 
on this invention was by no means lost, as it greatly 
aided in analyzing the sounds and otherwise mastering 
the language. 

Mr. Crawford's first sermon in Chinese was writ- 
ten in this phonetic system. 

(The reader is referred to the Appendix for a com- 
plete description of the system.) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GATHERING CLOUDS. 

After a year's study of the language, Mr. Crawford 
began regular preaching in the Sung Way Dong, a 
large Baptist chapel, on a crowded thoroughfare of 
the native city. This chapel had been built a few 
years before with funds collected by Mr. Shuck in the 
Southern States of America. Here Messrs. Shuck, 
Yates and Pearcy were in the habit of preaching 
in turn, daily, to full houses. Mr. Crawford, during 
his first year, frequently met them at the chapel, and 
aided them in keeping order. Mrs. Crawford often 
accompanied him, going up into the women's empty 
gallery, which extended around three sides of the 
building, in the hope that her presence might grad- 
ually draw the women about her, but in vain. If the 
missionaries had then known, as they learned later, 
that respectable women avoid thoroughfares and 
strange assemblies, they need not have constructed 
this gallery, and Mrs. Crawford need not have spent 
her energies in that direction. Only now and then 
an ordinary woman would wander in. Other condi- 
tions were required to accomplish the end they had 
in view. 

As mentioned in the last chapter, Mr. Crawford 
wrote out a sermon in his newly invented phonetic 
system, memorized it, and then delivered it from the 
high pulpit, to a vast crowd of strangers, in Mr. 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 69 

Yates' presence. He delivered the whole without fal- 
tering. As each day there was a new congregation, 
he soon went to preach this sermon again, but failing 
to render it to his satisfaction, he decided on his way- 
home that in the future he would pursue a different 
course. The congregation was always composed of 
a great mass of curious men, gazing at the foreign 
chapel, foreign tall lamp-stands, the peculiar dress 
and strange manners of the preacher, comparatively 
few of them realizing the fact that he was addressing 
them in their own language. The next time he at- 
tempted to preach, instead of ascending the high pulpit 
after the American fashion, he took his stand on the 
floor near the first row of hearers, and told them as 
well as he was able, in disconnected sentences, the 
leading truths of Christianity. His first was also his 
last written and memorized sermon. 

About the beginning of 1853 the population in and 
around Shanghai had begun to be greatly alarmed 
by war rumors. The Tai Ping rebels had arisen 
some years before on the southern border of the 
empire, west from Canton, and gradually moved north- 
ward towards Nankin, the ancient capital of China, 
carrying death and ruin in their train. The wildest 
stories of their power and success were circulated 
through the community. But there was no possibility 
of ascertaining the real state of things, nor newspapers 
to chronicle their movements. At each reported ad- 
vance of the insurgents the people fled in great num- 
bers to the country. When the report subsided they 
returned to their homes, to flee again at the next 



70 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

alarm. Thus for months they were kept in a fever of 
excitement, until the rebel army passed to the west of 
Shanghai and captured Nankin. 

To avoid a repetition of their previous sufferings 
in the city, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford spent the hottest 
part of the summer of 1853 outside the city walls 
at the home of Mr. Yates. The Tai Pings having set- 
tled their families at Nankin, the prospective capital, 
sent a request to Rev. I. J. Roberts, of Canton, to 
become their religious instructor. Their leader, Hung 
Hsheu Chuen, now styled the Heavenly Emperor, had 
some years before the rebellion been under Mr. 
Roberts' religious teaching. The rebels, in their 
march, destroyed the temples, and observed, to some 
extent, the forms of worship Hung had learned from 
Mr. Roberts and various Christian books. Mission- 
aries generally hoped that the revolution would pave 
the way for the introduction of Christianity through- 
out the empire. Mr. Crawford, sympathizing with 
Mr. Roberts' efforts to reach Nankin through the rigid 
blockade, invited him to his house while awaiting his 
opportunity. Towards the end of summer, just as 
Mr. Crawford and wife had returned to their home 
in the city, Mr. Roberts arrived, accompanied by two 
young rebel princes, the son and nephew of the south- 
ern king. These youths had by some means been 
separated from the army as it marched northward, 
and were afterwards smuggled into Canton to be 
taken to Nankin in Mr. Roberts' care. Mrs. Roberts 
soon followed her husband and also became an inmate 
of the Crawford household. While they were stopping 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 71 

there, reports of a new kind, to the effect that Shang- 
hai was to be captured by a band of local discontents, 
began to agitate the people. The missionaries, think- 
ing these rumors arose from the excited state of the 
public mind, and having no means of ascertaining the 
truth, gave themselves little anxiety on the subject, and 
went on with their regular work. 

But late one night in September, after they had 
retired, Mr. Nee came to arouse them to their danger, 
and urged them to take immediate measures for their 
safety. Mr. Crawford rising for the interview, was 
told that the officials were all removing their families 
to the country — that the greatest alarm and confusion 
prevailed, and the city was to be captured that night. 
Mr. Nee said the attack was to be made by the Fokien 
and Canton men, mostly residing in the eastern suburb, 
between the city wall and the river. These men had 
probably communicated with the Tai Pings at Nankin, 
and would try to unite with them. After Mr. Nee's 
departure Mr. and Mrs. Crawford held a "council of 
war." Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were asleep in Miss 
Baker's part of the house, and were not aroused. 
Was the danger real or imaginary? Having heard 
the cry of wolf so often they were not much dis- 
posed to heed it. If real, would foreigners be at- 
tacked? If so, what means of safety or defense had 
they at hand? The gates were then locked and they 
could not possibly leave the city. After reviewing the 
whole situation, they committed themselves into the 
hands of a faithful God ; Mr. Crawford put a hatchet, 
his only weapon of defense, under his pillow, and they 



72 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

lay down and slept till morning. Soon after daylight 
the servant woman, rapping at their door, informed 
them that the magistrate and some of the gatekeepers 
had been killed, and that the city was in the hands of 
the Red Heads (the local discontents). Mr. Crawford 
dressed immediately and went out to explore. Find- 
ing Red Turbaned men parading the streets in every 
direction, he returned at once to give information. 
After breakfast, Messrs. Roberts and Crawford went 
together to the business and official parts of the city 
to learn definitely how matters stood. Feeling con- 
fident of protection they soon returned to reassure 
their wives. In their absence Mrs. Crawford had 
taken the precaution to go down stairs and bolt 
the street doors. Shortly afterward, hearing some 
one trying to open it, she looked out from the win- 
dow above, and to her astonishment, not to say 
alarm, saw their own cook, at the head of eight or ten 
men, all with red turbans on their heads and spears in 
their hands. Hearing the noise of the opening of the 
window, they looked up and she said, "Teacher Craw- 
ford is not at home." In case of real danger this of 
course would have been the last thing for her to say, 
but it was her apology for not letting them in. They 
all bowed respectfully and departed. 

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts left the city at once, finding 
refuge with the missionaries without, but the Craw- 
fords, apprehending no danger, remained at home. 
The two schools, for they had also opened a day school 
for boys, were already broken up, many of the families 
patronizing them having fled to the country, and the 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 73 

others did not think it safe for their children to be on 
the street. 

No objection was offered by the rebel gatekeepers 
to the missionaries going out and coming in at pleas- 
ure, but the natives were denied this privilege. Re- 
ports soon became rife that an Imperial army and 
fleet were coming to exterminate the Red Turbans. 
The United States Consul promised to let Mr. Craw- 
ford know when it would be necessary for him to leave 
the city, and supposing that he would be well informed 
as to the movements of the army, they remained at 
home pursuing their studies, and cultivating friendship 
with the people who now turned to them for comfort 
and for outside news. While thus engaged, three 
weeks after the capture, suddenly the booming of 
cannon announced the arrival of the Imperial fleet, and 
the beginning of the threatened siege. Thinking it 
best now to seek a place of safety outside the walls, 
they went in company with Mr. Pearcy, who was also 
still remaining in the city, to the north gate, but found 
it closed and the keepers were not allowed to open it 
for any one. Then the party, soon increased by the 
addition of Mr. Carpenter of the Seventh-day Baptist 
mission, who also lived in the city, sought refuge in 
the Sung Way Dong, whose thick walls promised bet- 
ter protection than private dwellings. Cannon balls 
flew shrieking over their heads, now and then one pen- 
etrating the walls of the chapel. Two gentlemen of 
the party, as soon as possible, called on the rebel chief, 
who assured them that they should have an escort 
through the gates immediately after the cessation of 



74 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

the battle. When the firing ceased, Mr. Crawford 
dropped a note over the city wall, begging a strange 
man outside to take it to the United States Consul, 
which he did. However, an escort was obtained from 
the rebel chief, and the four missionaries marched out 
before the Consul and his party arrived. Taking only 
such articles as could be packed in two hand bags, and 
leaving the house in charge of their rebel cook, they 
made their way to the American Episcopal compound, 
two miles down the river, where they remained 
eighteen months. 

The history of this siege and the sufferings it caused, 
can only be briefly alluded to here. The Imperialists 
made almost daily attacks, firing at the wall with 
cannon, jingals, muskets and arrows. Sometimes they 
marched up with flags, spears, and shields, cursing and 
daring the rebels to come out to a hand to hand fight. 
The bombardments, both from the junks and from the 
batteries erected on the east bank of the river, were 
plainly visible from the Episcopal premises. The 
French Concession, lying along the northern and 
northeastern wall of the city, proved a means of pro- 
tection and also of supply to the rebels, since the Im- 
perial troops were not allowed by the French to occupy 
or blockade it. Choosing days when there was no fight- 
ing, Mr. Crawford succeeded in making a few visits 
to their city home, bringing out clothing, bedding and 
needed articles. After becoming accustomed to the 
state of war the two began to make regular visits to 
their home. Finding their cook unreliable they dis- 
missed him, and allowed Mr. Wong Ping San, teacher 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 75 

of the girls' school, to move into the house for the 
better protection both of their property and of his 
family. About this time Mr. Crawford requested 
Wong to transcribe the Gospel of Matthew into the 
new phonetic character which he had learned. While 
doing this work, the divine teachings began to take 
hold of his heart, and during the siege he was made a 
new man in Christ. Mr. and Mrs. Yee, the parents of 
three of their pupils, also begged to occupy some of 
the vacant rooms of the house, where they could feel 
safer and daily listen to Wong Ping San's instructions. 
Twice each week, when possible, taking a lunch 
with them, they spent a day in their city home. The 
neighbors welcomed them joyfully, many of them 
remaining for hours to derive what comfort they could 
from the reports of outside matters, and listening with 
more or less interest to the gospel. Much time was 
given to teaching Mrs. Wong and Mrs. Yee. As part 
of the road to and from the city lay in direct range of 
the guns east of the river, they did not think it safe to 
venture in during the attacks from that quarter. The 
suburb between the river and the city wall had been 
burned by the besieging army in order to give full 
play to the guns, thus leaving their road into the city 
entirely exposed. Sometimes the firing opened after 
they had started to the city or during their return. In 
such cases they watched their opportunity, and rapidly 
crossed the dangerous parts in the interval between 
two discharges. Though there was some risk in this 
they did not think it sufficiently great to keep them 
from their work. Their house in the city being in 



76 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

range of some of the batteries, an occasional ball 
would plow its way through the roof or upper portion 
of its walls. When danger threatened from this 
quarter, they did their work in the great hall below 
stairs. 

By these labors during this siege, they gained a 
much stronger hold on the people than they could have 
secured under ordinary circumstances. They also took 
letters and small parcels back and forth for separated 
families and friends. Some gave them their jewelry 
and other valuables for safe keeping, without receipts, 
fully believing they would be faithfully returned after 
the siege was over. In every instance the owners sur- 
vived to receive them again. 

Their work during this trying period was not con- 
fined to the city ; they also visited the villages and sur- 
rounding region. They found frequent opportunities 
for presenting the gospel to the country people as well 
as to the servants of the missionaries around them. 
Besides these labors they kept up, as far as possible, 
the study of the language. 

The proximity of the two large Imperial encamp- 
ments was a source of constant apprehension to the 
foreign settlement. After repeated remonstrances by 
the British i Consul against the lawlessness of the 
troops, an unprovoked attack by some of them on an 
English gentleman and lady, while out one day for 
recreation, brought matters to a crisis. The British 
Admiral, after some correspondence on the subject, 
sent an ultimatum to the general-in-chief of the forces, 
giving him three days to move the obnoxious camps to 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 77 

a greater distance from the concession. No attention 
being paid to the Admiral's demand, a foreign force 
was hastily gathered, consisting of a few British and 
American marines, augmented by volunteers from the 
settlement and from merchant vessels in port. These 
were anxious days to all the foreigners, for the Impe- 
rial army, besides being strongly intrenched, outnum- 
bered the little foreign band at least ten fold. As the 
end of the specified three days drew near, intense ex- 
citement prevailed on every hand. But true to Anglo- 
Saxon blood, soon after the time expired, this brave 
little band stormed and captured the encampments with 
considerable slaughter of their defenders, some of the 
attacking party also losing their lives. Judging from 
the entire absence of preparation, it is supposed the 
army had not been informed of the state of affairs or 
of the British demand. The white race is capable of 
high handed measures, and generally has had its own 
way in the east. But probably a new day has dawned 
in this respect. The camps were removed with ample 
apologies, and there was no more trouble from this 
source. 

All the American mission houses, except the Episco- 
pal, were rendered untenable by the war, and were 
finally bought by the Chinese government for strategic 
purposes. The Episcopal friends received the Craw- 
fords and other missionaries as homeless refugees, 
with a generous welcome, and did everything in their 
power for their comfort; but, as they were expecting 
reinforcements, they could not continue long to accom- 
modate so large a number without great inconvenience 



78 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

to all. The Southern Baptist mission, seeing no pros- 
pect of a speedy termination of hostilities, proceeded 
to build a house in the foreign settlement large 
enough to temporarily shelter their four families, Mr. 
Shuck and children having left for America before the 
siege, and Mr. and Mrs. Pearcy and Miss Baker 
during its continuance. 

The siege drew its weary length along. But no 
siege lasts forever. Late in the autumn of 1854, the 
French, growing restless under the state of affairs, 
picked a quarrel with the rebels. After bombarding 
them to their heart's content, they instituted a strict 
blockade from their concession. This effectually cut 
off all other, as well as the Crawford's, communication 
with the city. The close of this rebellion is given in an 
extract from one of Mrs. Crawford's letters to a 
friend, dated March 15, 1855, as published in the 
Southwestern Baptist : 

"I shall not attempt to detail the events of the past 
month. It would be a story of starvation and misery 
in almost every form. The siege is ended. After the 
government bought several mission premises, the Im- 
perial army took possession of all the places through 
which provisions could be smuggled into the city, and 
food became very scarce. There were many thou- 
sands of non-combatants — men, women and children — 
shut up within the walls, whom the rebel chief refused 
to release. Occasionally, however, some stole out, 
some bribed the pickets, and some were shot in at- 
tempting to escape. Affairs daily grew worse. No 
one was allowed to enter the city but Dr. Lockhart of 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 79 

the London mission. Through him we sent money to 
those in our house. But soon we learned that money 
could not procure food, and finally Dr. Lockhart was 
shut out. Then we suffered most painful anxiety for 
Wong Ping San and other friends. Horses, mules 
and dogs were all eaten, and many people died of star- 
vation. 

"Prayer was offered daily by the various mission- 
aries for the sufferers. Finally Wong Ping San 
escaped through a breach in the wall, leaving his fam- 
ily with food enough for seven days. Had he remained 
it would have sufficed for but four. His wife did not 
attempt to accompany him, lest the crying of her in- 
fant should betray them. The week following was one 
of most painful anxiety for all the missionaries. They 
constantly met half starved refugees, who brought out 
tales of horrible distress. On the night of February 
I 7> I ^55 (^ was the Chinese New Year's eve), the 
rebels being demoralized, attempted to evacuate the 
city. Some arrangements being misunderstood, utter 
confusion ensued. The Imperialists, learning the sit- 
uation, rushed in, set fire to the houses and captured 
many of the rebels. A large number escaped, but for 
days the less fortunate were continually seized and 
beheaded. On February 19, Mr. Crawford succeeded 
in reaching our house, finding the inmates safe, but in 
a state of great terror. The house had been plundered 
by the Imperial soldiers, but the value of the property 
has since been refunded, so far as we could remember 
what was missing. Nearly half of our books were 
taken, a loss not easily repaired. 



80 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA, 

"At the recapture of the city, our new mission house 
in the foreign settlement was just ready for occu- 
pancy. On the twentieth all four families moved into 
it, and will remain here until Mr. Yates' can be fitted 
up. We thought it best not to return to our city home 
this spring as we should be compelled to leave it in the 
summer. Besides, the city is so filthy that pestilence 
is apprehended. We will, however, resume our 
schools there, hoping hereafter to reside in that neigh- 
borhood again. " 

It may be well to mention here the fate of the two 
rebel princes taken into the Crawford home by Mr. 
Roberts. Fung Amau, son of the Southern King, was 
a bright, amiable boy of fourteen. His cousin, Fung 
Asau, was a fine looking young man of eighteen, full 
of fire and high aspirations. Both were worshippers 
of the true God and hated idols. Mr. Roberts gave 
them religious instruction, and Mrs. Cabaniss taught 
Amau some English. Asau was baptized by Mr. 
Pearcy in the autumn of 1853, Mr. Roberts acting as 
interpreter during his examination. Being from the 
far south none of the other missionaries understood 
his dialect. The Red Turbans made many attempts to 
join the Tai Pings at Nankin, but without success 
because of the intervening Imperial armies. The 
Shanghai rebel leaders finding out Amau's rank, by 
flattery and many honors induced him to join their 
band without Mr. Roberts' knowledge. Asau was like 
a caged tiger. Being unable to reach Nankin, where 
he longed to share the destiny of his fellow-revolu- 
tionists, he worried himself into insanity. To prevent 



GATHERING CLOUDS. 81 

his betrayal of himself, he was taken by Messrs. Yates 
and Roberts into the city, and chained to a pillar in 
Mr. Crawford's house. On recovery he was sent to 
Hong Kong where he taught school for a missionary 
until his own death two months afterwards. Amau 
remained with the Red Turbans until their capture, 
and some of Mr. Crawford's acquaintances witnessed 
his beheading among many other prisoners. It was 
several years before Mr. Roberts succeeded in reach- 
ing Nankin, having in the meanwhile taken his family 
to America and returned. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONVERSIONS,- BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 

After the recapture of the city of Shanghai by 
the Imperialists, order was gradually restored, and 
the missionary work was resumed under some new 
conditions. This is partly shown by the following 
further quotation from the letter mentioned in the 
last chapter: 

"On last Sabbath we had the pleasure of witness- 
ing the baptism of our teacher, Wong Ping San. In 
the presence of numbers of his fellow-countrymen, he 
renounced all trust in any other salvation than that 
through Jesus Christ, the Son of the true God. There 
are a few others who seem somewhat interested in 
the gospel. The brethren have appointed Friday 
evening for Chinese prayer-meeting in our study 
at Te Hwo Dong, and services for the little church 
at the same place at twelve o'clock. Besides these 
meetings, there will be preaching to the heathen almost 
every day, both at our city house and at the Sung 
Way Dong. I think there is more disposition to lis- 
ten to the truth than formerly." 

One of the missionaries in writing of Wong Ping 
San's examination for baptism, said: "It was really 
charming to hear him tell his experience— his struggles 
with heathenism, his efforts to make himself better, 
his doubts, his fears, and his final triumph in an old- 
fashioned conversion by the Holy Spirit." 




THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH OF DR. CRAWFORD, 
MADE IN 1901 




WANG PING SAN 

FIRST CONVERT UNDER THE WORK OF THE CRAWFORDS, AND FORTY 

YEARS PASTOR OF SHANGHAI BAPTIST CHURCH 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 83 

This marked conversion of so intelligent a man, 
who, from seventeen years of age, had been a diligent 
seeker after truth, had investigated the claims of all 
the religions around him, but found no rest for his 
soul, made an epoch in missions at Shanghai. Re- 
ferring to his change of heart he said, "When I had 
prayed some time and arose to my feet, I felt 
that all the enmity and ill will I had ever entertained 
toward others had passed away; and in my heart and 
whole body I felt invigorated. Suddenly I thought and 
said, 'Surely God has forgiven my sins or else I 
could not so freely forgive others their trespasses 
against me.' Thereupon I was enabled to return 
thanks without measure." This took place while he 
was still shut up in the besieged city, a short time 
before the visits of the missionaries were cut off by 
the French blockade. 

Mr. and Mrs. Crawford never forgot the joy of their 
interview with him the day after his great change. 
His face glowed with heavenly light as he said, "I 
have received the Holy Spirit/' and then recounted 
to them his conflicts and final victory through trust 
in Christ. They had often been told by other mis- 
sionaries that an honest mental assent to the truth 
of Christianity was all that could be expected of Chi- 
nese converts at that stage of the work. They could 
not accept this view, but labored in faith for the same 
conversions by the Holy Spirit that have followed 
the proclamation of the gospel through the ages. 
Therefore they had double joy in seeing their faith 
verified by such an unmistakable passing from death 



84 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

unto life of a man for whom their hearts had been 
so intensely engaged. This joy was theirs alone for 
a time, as none of their colleagues saw him between 
his conversion and his escape from the city several 
months later. Prior to this, a few natives had united 
with other mission churches, and four men with the 
Baptist Church at Shanghai. Of these four, two had 
been excluded, one, Asau, had died, and one miserable 
specimen still remained. Soon after Wong's baptism 
this last one was excluded for opium-smoking, lying, 
and obtaining money under false pretenses; so Wong 
Ping San was in reality the first permanent member 
of the Shanghai Baptist Church. 

As before stated, the four mission families, Yates, 
Burton, Cabaniss and Crawford, were now all living 
temporarily in the house erected in the foreign settle- 
ment, which they named Te Hwo Dong, that is, the 
"hall of brotherly love." While there, one Sunday 
morning, in the early spring of 1855, their front gate 
was opened, and in walked about a dozen country 
people, led by a man and his wife whom the Crawfords 
immediately recognized. These leaders of the party 
had been frequent visitors at the Yah Joh Loong dur- 
ing the war, and had listened with much interest to the 
gospel. Like many others, they had escaped from 
the city during the siege, and found refuge in one of 
the numerous villages a mile or two back of the Epis- 
copal mission. They had industriously told the gos- 
pel story to the owner of the house in which they 
found shelter, and to many of the other villagers. 
Now that peace was restored, a large company of 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 85 

them sought the Crawfords saying: "We are come to 
hear more of this doctrine of salvation." Having 
walked several miles, they were invited to remain all 
day, which they gladly did. One middle-aged woman, 
the landlady of the refugees, was especially earnest, 
and as Mrs. Crawford urged on her the obligations 
and joys of the gospel, she, taking the missionary's 
hand in both of hers, said : "You are going to heaven. 
You are acquainted there. I wish you to take me 
along and introduce me, for I do not know the way 
nor how to behave when I get there." All listened 
seriously, and came again and again, Sabbath after 
Sabbath. The Crawfords also accepted their invi- 
tation to visit the village, and did so, accompanied by 
Wong Ping San, and they thought some of them 
were not far from the kingdom of heaven. One 
young woman they remembered with peculiar inter- 
est. She was not yet married, and felt sure her 
future husband and family would not permit her to 
become outwardly a Christian. Her sighs, tears and 
prayers wei;e very touching. They could only pray 
for her, point her to Jesus and urge her to trust in 
Him as a complete and all-powerful Saviour, who 
will never fail those who commit themselves to Him. 

The Episcopal missionaries, learning what was 
going on at this village, sought an interview with 
Mr. Crawford, and claimed that region as belonging 
to their parish, though hitherto they had done no 
work there. Mr. Crawford explained that the lead- 
ers of this party of natives were his neighbors in the 
city, and that he and his wife had been their sole relig* 



86 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

ious guides. The fact that the village was nearer 
the Episcopal residences than Mr. Crawford's did not 
seem a sufficient reason for relinquishing a work which 
Providence had thrown on them. Finally the Episco- 
pal missionaries, seeing no other way to detach these 
people from the religious watch-care of the Baptists 
and attach them to their own church, opened a school 
in the village, employing the man from the city as 
teacher. Thus by offering this inducement to him 
and the patrons of the school, they gained a victory 
for which Mr. Crawford would not compete. This 
was the first, but not the last, time they had their 
inquirers and converts turned from them by pecuniary 
inducements. Such incentives to a profession of 
Christianity or choice of denomination are exceedingly 
corrupting, and they would never employ them. They 
never knew how many from this village joined the 
Episcopal Church. They saw the woman who had 
asked them to lead her to heaven once after she 
joined them. She seemed very loving and said: "I 
was sorry not to go with you, but they told me their 
church was nearer than yours, and after all it is the 
same Jesus and the same heaven." 

Mrs. Yee, previously mentioned, had become inter- 
ested in the gospel years before this period. While 
her husband, who was a tea-chest painter, was work- 
ing and they were living at Su Chow, had visited 
Shanghai in the furtherance of his business, and on 
return had told her about the foreign preaching halls, 
where a new religion or plan for securing salvation 
was taught. The idea of salvation took hold of her, 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 87 

and when the family removed to Shanghai, she ear- 
nestly desired to visit one of these halls. But being 
timid, and no one offering to lead the way, she 
anxiously awaited an opportunity. At last, having 
heard of the day schools, she gladly sent her two 
daughters as pupils, and afterwards her son. These 
girls daily taught their mother what they learned of 
Christianity, and when the Crawfords first met her, 
she already knew the ten commandments and the 
Lord's Prayer, and many scriptural facts. Though 
receiving constant instruction from Mr. Wong Ping 
San, as well as from the missionaries, when visiting 
the city, she was still, at the end of the siege, groping 
her way in the dark. She said one day, "When you 
think me ready I wish to be baptized, for I desire to 
follow Jesus in all things." Not long after this, as 
she knelt beside the bed in her cheerless hut, she 
gave herself to Jesus and found light and joy inex- 
pressible. Springing to her feet, she hastened to tell 
Mr. Wong of her new found happiness. She was 
baptized by Mr. Crawford in the river in the summer 
of 1855. She was the first woman ever baptized 
in Shanghai. A friend had remonstrated with her in 
advance, saying, "Are you not afraid? You have 
never taken a cold bath in your life." She replied, 
"No, nor even washed my face in cold water, but I 
am not afraid. Jesus would not tell me to do what 
would hurt me, and if he did I would do it, and let 
it hurt." 

Mr. Crawford secured a good position for Mr. 
Nee as a teacher with another missionary, and took 



88 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Mr. Wong, about the time of his baptism, as teacher 
of the language for himself and wife. Thus by daily 
association with them, Wong could have the religious 
instruction he so much needed. Even before his con- 
version he seemed to pity the erring, ignorant people, 
and now felt doubly anxious to present the Saviour 
for their acceptance. He was a close student of the 
Bible, and while they were learning from him the 
ins and outs of the Chinese language, Mr. Crawford 
opened up to him the rich treasures of God's word. 
The many practical phases of Christianity could also 
be better presented in this free intercourse than 
through set lessons. The two became intimate friends, 
studying together in the mornings and meeting in 
the afternoons in one of the chapels to preach in turn 
to the crowds that gathered. Sometimes Mrs. Craw- 
ford accompanied them to the chapels, sometimes to 
the surrounding villages, and took boat excursions 
with them to different towns. That article of the treaty 
with China, restricting foreigners to a twenty-four 
hours' absence from an open port, had by this time 
become a dead letter, and journeys of weeks were 
made without disturbance or protest. By means of 
the general system of canals, any city, market town, 
or important village, in the great Yang Tsze valley, 
might be reached by boat. Boats of all sizes, from 
the narrow dispatch boat carrying one man who 
propels the oars with his feet, up to the luxurious 
pleasure palace, might be constantly seen passing 
hither and thither. They usually hired a good passen- 
ger boat of three compartments, furnishing of neces- 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 89 

sity their own bedding, cooking utensils, table furni- 
ture, fuel and provisions. Now steam is rapidly 
changing these modes of travel. 

When stopping at any place, great or small, a 
crowd would immediately collect on the bank, afford- 
ing an opportunity for preaching and tract distribu- 
tion. Often leaving the boat for these purposes, the 
men of the party would visit different parts of the 
town, such as tea houses, open areas, or temple 
courts. Mrs. Crawford was sometimes invited to pri- 
vate houses, where she could present the gospel to 
the women in a more quiet way than on the boat. 

At a certain town on one of their short trips, while 
they were standing on the pavement in front of a 
handsome temple, Mr. Crawford preaching to the 
multitudes, some person called out, "Bring a bench! 
Bring a seat!" One was speedily brought, and the 
missionaries were invited to be seated. After refus- 
ing for some time, the crowd earnestly insisting, they 
yielded. Shouts burst from hundreds of throats, 
"Ha! they can sit down, they can bend their knees 
like other people!" On seeking an explanation from 
their teacher, they were told that before the capture 
of Shanghai by the British troops, the officials issued 
a proclamation to encourage the people, saying that 
foreigners had no joints in their legs, and if knocked 
down they could not rise again. 

The effect upon the nervous system of being al- 
ways watched by a curious, gaping multitude, cannot 
be fully appreciated without experience. With closed 
doors and windows, they could sail along in mid- 



90 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

stream without attracting attention. But such im- 
prisonment was intolerable for long periods. Like 
other mortals they need air and light, and with these 
come the gazing. Besides, health required them to 
get out of the boat occasionally and take walks on 
the paths along the canal. The country being a dead 
level, without trees or fences, they could be discerned 
from afar. In every direction could be seen men, 
women and children, running toward them for a good 
look. It was to most of these people the opportunity 
of a lifetime. Walking on one of these trips, a 
long train of gazers following after, some being rather 
boisterous, the travelers suddenly wheeled about to 
retrace their steps. The movement being designedly 
sharp and unexpected, produced a general panic. The 
crowd turned and fled as for life, screaming at the 
top of their voices, calling on their gods for help. 
This experiment was not repeated. At another time, 
walking near nightfall along the canal, two country- 
men came up rather rapidly behind them. On dis- 
covering them to be foreigners, one said, "Don't get 
too near lest they kick !" The other evidently priding 
himself on his superior knowledge, replied, "No, they 
are men I" Again they once heard a Shanghai man 
and a countryman discussing them. The latter ex- 
claimed, "How white they are!" "Yes/' said the 
citizen, "and if you lived on cow's milk like they do 
you would be white too." 

In those early days, preaching was mainly addressed, 
not to regular congregations, but to great crowds of 
raw heathen, most of whom could not fix their at- 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 91 

tention, nor remain quiet long enough to understand 
a connected discourse. Under these conditions, for- 
mal services with singing and prayer were out of the 
question. Great skill was required to even partially 
interest the audience. Sermons could not be deliv- 
ered after the western models, with their firstly and 
secondly, one argument coming out of another in 
logical order. Such preaching, had it been possible 
for the speaker, would have been lost on the audience. 
In private conversation with thoughtful Chinese, close 
reasoning is frequently necessary and appreciated, 
but for this, as well as for the mode of addressing 
the masses, skill can only be acquired by long practice 
and close study of the native mind. A certain kind 
of logic is demanded, but nothing is so effective, so 
convincing, as the assertion of a truth, pointed by a 
striking illustration. 

Prior to Wong's baptism, the little church at Shang- 
hai, composed of the missionaries and one native mem- 
ber, met for communion service once each month. 
The songs, most of the prayers and talks were in 
English, but the closing doxology was in Chinese, the 
only hymn of the kind in their possession. When 
they began to have prayer-meetings and weekly church 
services, hymns in the dialect of the people became 
indispensable, and Mr. Crawford felt impelled to sup- 
ply the need. 

A few days before his marriage in 1851, while he 
and his intended bride were discussing the character 
of their prospective work in China, Mr. Crawford 
said: "Our religion is a social one, and it seems to 



92 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

me that Christian churches can never be built up of 
men alone. Your work will therefore be as essential 
to success as mine. Neither can Chinese congrega- 
tions be sustained without vocal music. The people 
on our field will as yet have neither sacred hymns 
nor tunes. If you will teach our converts to sing, I 
will supply the hymns/' To this she heartily as- 
sented. 

In accordance with these early convictions, he now 
set about making hymns in the Shanghai dialect. 
Many of the missionaries had opposed the use of 
foreign tunes, maintaining that they destroyed the 
meaning of the words by violating the tones of the 
language. Some favored the use of Taoist chants and 
for the hymns preferred the classical style; but when 
Mr. Wong and Mr. Crawford composed and translated 
a few songs into the dialect, which was set to old 
familiar American tunes, the natives accepted them 
with avidity, and objections vanished. All united 
heartily in the movement. Such hymns and tunes 
were soon sung in all the mission churches, and a 
new era in religious worship was introduced in 
Shanghai. 

Residence in the English settlement being incon- 
venient to their work, which lay mainly within the 
city walls, when the cooler autumn weather of 1855 
came on, the Crawfords returned to their old home 
in the city for the winter. There they came in constant 
contact with the people, and had their school under 
daily supervision. But the dampness and malaria proved 
to be detrimental to their health. After two months 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 93 

of labor there, both were, within a day of each other, 
taken seriously ill. Dr. Burton moved them back to 
Te Hwo Dong, where he and Mrs. Burton cared 
for them most tenderly, the doctor acting as both 
physician and nurse until their recovery. As Dr. 
Burton strongly advised against any future attempt 
to live in the city, they returned the house to its 
owners, and rented a smaller one in a better location 
for a chapel, yet sufficiently large for the two schools. 
Mr. Po, the only son of a wealthy man, had suc- 
ceeded Mr. Wong as teacher of the girls' school, 
and in a short time he and Mr. Saw, who taught the 
boys, both became Christians, each dying years after- 
wards in the faith. At this place, called Nay Way 
Dong, the missionaries spent the greater part of three 
days each week. Mr. Crawford and Mr. Wong 
preached in the forenoon, and after a cold dinner 
which they took with them, the rest of the day was 
spent in talking personally with the people; they to 
the men and Mrs. Crawford to the women, on opposite 
sides of the room. In this way they could find out 
the religious wants and difficulties of their hearers, 
and apply the truth accordingly. They found that 
public preaching to the heathen, without some such 
accompanying conversation, is largely lost. The 
preaching hall being upstairs, hidden from the public 
gaze, they soon had quite a large, regular congrega- 
tion. Opening into this hall was a small room, into 
which Mrs. Crawford often took serious women for 
prayer. Mrs. Yee, who with her family now lived 
in the lower part of this house, made this little room 



94 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

her sanctum and retreat from domestic distractions, 
frequently taking the others with her there to pray. 
It was in this place, too, that Mrs. Ling, mentioned 
in "The Chinese Bride," came while visiting a friend 
in the city, to offer her petitions; for her friend had 
said, "It frightens me to have you talk to God where 
I am." 

During the years 1855 to 1857, a number of per- 
sons, besides school teachers and servants in the sev- 
eral mission families, became Christians. A general 
spirit of inquiry manifested itself in connection with 
the labors of all. Messrs. Yates and Cabaniss having 
returned to their repaired houses, a small chapel was 
built near them, outside the old north gate of the 
city, where the regular Sabbath services of the church 
were afterwards held. Baptisms were administered 
at the Sung Way Dong, where the audiences became 
more orderly. As a nucleus the native Christians on 
these occasions gathered around the pulpit and joined 
in the services. Chinese women, timid and shrinking 
as they are, never, so far as the observation of these 
missionaries extended, when truly converted, objected 
to being baptized, nor hesitated to use the portion of 
the chapel set apart for them. 

While Mr. Crawford had his little preaching place 
near the south gate, with the boys and girls' day 
school connected with it, Mr. Cabaniss had similar 
quarters in another part of the city. Mr. and Mrs. 
Yates labored in their own neighborhood, having the 
use of the little chapel in which the church meetings 
were held on Sundays. Dr. Burton had labored in 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 95 

the medical line at a still different preaching hall, but 
was already becoming discouraged in regard to its 
evangelistic uses. Those who became interested in 
the gospel at any of these centers, or at the Sung 
Way Dong, where preaching to the masses was car- 
ried on daily by the missionaries in turn, were re- 
quested to attend the meetings on Sundays at the 
old North Gate Chapel, where all the church mem- 
bers assembled for worship. Thus was beautifully 
illustrated a division of labor with a united work. 
About this time Dr. Burton resigned from the mis- 
sion, practicing his profession among natives and for- 
eigners, until the opening of the American Civil War, 
when he returned to the United States. 

In these early years of his labors, a fellow-worker 
asking Mr. Crawford's advice in regard to the pro- 
priety of admitting polygamists to baptism and church 
fellowship, led him to the careful study of this ques- 
tion. Missionaries were not of one opinion on this 
subject. As in every other perplexity, he went to 
the word of God for guidance. The first passage that 
came to him was Paul's injunction to Timothy, "A 
bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one 
wife, vigilant, sober and of good behaviour, given to 
hospitality, apt to teach ; not given to wine, no striker, 
not greedy of filthy lucre/' (i Tim. iii: 2, 3.) "This 
scripture would imply," he said, "that there were those 
in the churches who had more than one wife." But 
a fellow-missionary suggested that such was not con- 
clusive; for many other things were forbidden to 
the bishops, of which it would be a shame for any 



96 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Christian to be guilty. So he began to search for 
other scripture teachings on this matter. 

"And he saith unto them whosoever shall put away 
his wife and marry another committeth adultery 
against her," etc. (Mark x: II, 12.) "If it be adul- 
tery to marry another, when the first is put away, 
much more gross adultery must it be to marry another 
while still retaining the first." It seemed to him 
that Jesus had thus decided the question by this one 
affirmation. And there were other teachings of the 
Lord equally explicit, which need not be mentioned 
here; and Paul also by inspiration says, "Neverthe- 
less to avoid fornication let every man have his own 
wife, and every woman her own husband" — by impli- 
cation not the husband of another woman. 

Nor is the Old Testament silent on this subject, 
though the Israelites followed this and other customs 
of the heathen around them for many generations. 
Leviticus xviii : 18 says, "Neither shalt thou take a 
wife to her sister (margin, "one wife to another," 
which is probably the' true rendering) in her life 
time." Moreover, in China polygamy is not legal. 
A man marries a chi (wife), but the arrangements 
and ceremonies are quite different when he takes a 
chie (concubine). The words are entirely unlike, and 
there should never be any question as to which one 
of his "wives" he should keep and which put away. 
All but his legal wife are concubines. 

"But," some one objected, "perhaps several of these 
later ones have children, and the first or real wife 
may have none, would it not be cruel to break up 



CONVERSIONS, BAPTISMS, DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 97 

families in this way?" His reply always was, "It is 
not our province to decide all the details in such mat- 
ters, but the fact remains that the man must cohabit 
with but one — the lawful wife ; yet he is under obliga- 
tion to provide for the other women and the children. 
Of course, turning away from this sin has its inconven- 
iences and heartaches ; so of the idolator, the drunkard, 
the opium-smoker, and other transgressors. But even 
sins of ignorance, when brought to the light, must be 
repented of and turned from, and every man must take 
the consequences of his own mistakes and sins." 

He was sometime in clearly reaching all these con- 
clusions, but held them firmly to the end. In all his 
long life he never had occasion to accept or reject a 
polygamist. 



CHAPTER X. 

FIRST VISIT TO THE HOMELAND, SHIPWRECKED, 
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. 

How to gain access to the ears and hearts of 
the people, and lead them to Christ; how to build up 
churches of living stones after the New Testament 
pattern, was the study of the Craw fords by day and 
by night. Released from the environments of their 
own native country, they endeavored to work, under 
their new and peculiar circumstances, without intro- 
ducing unnecessary foreign customs. In short, they 
tried to make the New Testament Christianity, rather 
than its modern type, their model; yet without yield- 
ing any essential article of faith or practice as held 
by Baptist Churches, fully believing these to be in 
accordance with the divine teachings. They embraced 
every opportunity to present Christ as the only way of 
salvation, to their servants, to all who came into their 
house for whatever purpose, to those who assembled 
in the chapels, and to all those they could reach in any 
way. In their daily walks for exercise, they frequent- 
ly wended their way to some village or cluster of 
farm houses, where they found openings for present- 
ing the gospel. Such was mainly their methods of 
labor. Their motto was, "This one thing I do." 

After their severe illness in 1855, they made a trip 
of recuperation to the native port of Ningpo. Among 
the various missionaries stationed there, several be- 



FIRST VISIT TO THE HOMELAND, SHIPWRECKED. 99 

longed to the American Baptist Missionary Union, 
with all of whom they formed strong and lasting 
friendships. At Ningpo they had opportunities for 
seeing many phases of missionary work, and for tak- 
ing counsel on difficult points connected with it. It 
is always helpful to look around upon the methods of 
others. This was especially so in those early, exper- 
imental days, when the great question was how to do 
it. In the summer of 1857, it was decided that Mr. 
Yates and family should go home on a furlough. 
They had been on the field for ten years, and the 
Board had invited them home for a much-needed rest. 
Before they sailed Dr. Burton strongly advised that, 
on account of her weak condition, Mrs. Crawford 
should accompany them. Mr. Crawford being in less 
need of a change of climate, it was decided that he 
should remain for a year in charge of the church, 
left pastorless by Mr. Yates' absence, before joining 
his wife in America. 

On September first the party, consisting of Mr. and 
Mrs. Yates and their daughter Annie, and Mrs. Craw- 
ford, set out on the sailing ship Ariel, Captain Cutler 
in command, bound for New York. Friends had pre- 
viously said to them, "Are you not afraid to start 
in the very heart of the typhoon season?" But their 
passage was engaged, the time of sailing was not 
under their control, and so committing themselves to 
God, they set out on what proved to be the Ariel's 
last voyage. They afterwards learned that at their 
departure the barometer was indicating the approach 
of a typhoon. When about one hundred and fifty 



100 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

miles from Shanghai, the weather became so threat- 
ening that the captain anchored under shelter of a 
group of islands called The Saddles. While there, 
Mrs. Crawford embraced an opportunity of sending 
a letter to Mr. Crawford, informing him of their de- 
tention. After a few days the captain weighed an- 
chor and set sail, hoping to reach the open sea or a 
more secure refuge before the storm should reach 
them. But in a few hours it burst upon them with 
ever increasing fury, so filling the sails and tighten- 
ing the ropes that it became difficult to manage the 
ship. With as much sail up as safety would sanction, 
the vessel almost upon her beam ends plowed 
through the raging sea with terrific velocity. "The 
tension was so great," wrote Mrs. Crawford, "that 
my whole frame became rigid. I could only wedge 
myself between the berth and the washstand, holding 
on with clenched hands, awaiting I knew not what. 
After some hours of this race for life, we anchored 
in a channel among the Chu San islands, where for 
a time we felt secure. The physical relief felt at the 
lowering of the sails and the casting of the anchors 
was wonderful. ,, 

But this sense of safety was of short duration. As 
in all cyclones, the wind soon veered to another quar- 
ter, and the vessel was again exposed to all its force. 
By nightfall it was found that the anchors were in- 
sufficient to hold the ship, and that she was drifting 
along the channel towards a high rocky cliff, pro- 
jecting from one of the adjacent islands. The cap- 
tain thereupon decided to clear the ship of her masts. 



FIRST VISIT TO THE HOMELAND, SHIPWRECKED. 101 

The rigging on the weather side was first cut loose, 
and all the three masts were snapped off by the force 
of the wind, and fell into the water, though still at- 
tached to the ship by the lea rigging. When these 
ropes were cut loose, the masts, yards and appurte- 
nances floated away out of sight. The storm raged 
with unabated fury throughout the night. With the 
ship's head to the wind the great waves struck her 
prow with such violence as to come dashing over the 
cabin in the stern. The roar was fearful. On deck 
no commands could be heard unless shouted into the 
ear at the top of the voice. The next day the storm 
seemed even to grow worse, and it was discovered that, 
some of the anchors having parted cable, the ship vtas 
again drifting towards the rocks. Early in the after- 
noon it was announced that a dismantled junk, at the 
mercy of the waves, was bearing down upon them. 
A collision, which seemed inevitable, would be cer- 
tain destruction to both vessels. Earnest, silent prayer 
went up from the passengers, while the sailors played 
out a hawser at the stern to change, if possible, the 
position of the ship. She veered a little in answer to 
the effort, and the junk passed by, missing the ship 
only a few yards. The appeals of "save, save, save,* 
of the poor helpless junkmen wrung with pity the 
hearts of those on the dismantled Ariel, who thanked 
God for their own deliverance. The rain, spray, and 
low hanging clouds, made it so dark that even at mid- 
day they could see but a few rods from the ship, yet 
they felt sure the unfortunate junk was soon dashed 
to pieces against the shore toward which she was 



102 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

rapidly drifting, and they were powerless to help its 
occupants. 

The ship drifted at every flood tide, and at night 
the captain, full of anxiety, ordered the steward to 
place beside each of the passengers ropes with slip- 
knots, so that when the ship should strike the rocks 
they might lash themselves to some plank or article of 
furniture as a last hope. They were told that as the 
tide was just beginning to ebb they were safe for the 
next six hours, until another flood tide. The carpen- 
ter said he would turn in, as he would as soon go down 
in his bunk as any other way. The steward replied, 
"I will sit up, for if we go down I wish to see it." 

All were exceedingly weary. Knowing of the six 
hours' respite, the passengers lay down on the cabin 
floor, wedging themselves securely between table legs 
and sofas, with their ear rings (as the sailors called 
the noosed ropes) beside them, and committing them- 
selves into the hands of God, they slept through the 
night, all unconscious of what was going on. At day- 
light the steward came down exclaiming, "The days 
of miracles are not passed ! We have drifted past the 
rocks and are safe!" In the afternoon the wind be- 
gan to abate, and the clouds to part, and at last a 
ray of the setting sun streamed through the cabin win- 
dow. It seemed like the return of a long-lost friend. 
Mrs. Yates and Mrs. Crawford exchanged glances 
and burst into tears. 

An arrangement called "scissors" was extemporized 
for carrying sail and the captain slipped his anchor and 
headed for the open sea. With nothing to steady her, 



FIRST VISIT TO THE HOMELAND, SHIPWRECKED. 103 

the vessel rolled heavily, but securing themselves firm- 
ly in their berths, the passengers again slept all night. 

What a contrast greeted their eyes next morning 
when they went on deck ! The sea where they had 
lain during the storm was brown and thick with mud 
from the great Yang Tsze river, now plowed up 
from the shallow channel. The heavens had been 
black with wild, scudding clouds, the jagged rocks 
were menacing, and everything around was forbid- 
ding in the extreme. But this morning all these were 
gone, and they were safe in the open sea. Not a cloud 
was in sight, and the bluest of seas laughed back at 
the bluest of skies. Their hearts, with rejoicing na- 
ture, went up in gratitude to God, who had heard 
their prayers and spared his servants for further 
w r ork in his vineyard. 

Before breakfast a bark was sighted, and the cap- 
tain bore down toward her as well as he could. The 
bark, seeing their disabled condition and flag of dis- 
tress, also trimmed for the Ariel. She proved to be 
a Siamese man-of-war, short of provisions, bound for 
Shanghai. She was requested to take the Ariel's 
passengers on board and to send a tug to tow the 
hulk into port. As there was still a heavy swell, it 
was dangerous to approach very near together, and 
the transfer was made over a considerable distance. 
It was unsafe for the four passengers and the requi- 
site stores to go all at once on the little boat, so two 
trips had to be made. As the frail boat moved away 
with the Yates family, all on the ship watched anxious- 
ly. Sometimes the great waves would hide it from 



104 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

view for a painfully long time, raising fears that it 
was swamped. But she went bravely on until she 
reached the bark, and the passengers, with much 
difficulty, were taken on board. On the second 
trip, besides Mrs. Crawford, the boat carried needed 
provisions. Little did they then suppose that they 
should be ten days on this bark, and that she would 
again run short of supplies. But her Siamese crew 
were so inefficient that the English captain felt under 
the necessity of carrying but little sail, as in case of 
sudden squalls no one could be induced to go aloft 
to trim sail. They were landlocked in the Chu San 
archipelago for several days, constantly threatened 
by a fleet of fishing junks, which, whenever suitable 
prey offered, were ready to turn pirates. Had they 
run aground, or from any cause become disabled, they 
would certainly have fallen into the hands of these 
sea robbers. As they approached Shanghai, they saw" 
a steam tug going out to sea. Next day, the tug in 
returning passed them in the river, towing the dis- 
mantled Ariel, whose captain saluted the bark by low- 
ering his flag. 

During the typhoon Mr. Crawford had of course 
suffered much anxiety. He had hardly hoped that 
the outgoing missionaries had escaped the storm, and 
as it howled and raged around him in his loneliness, 
every blast sent a fresh dagger through his heart. 
He had received his wife's note from The Saddles, 
and therefore knew something of the whereabouts of 
the unfortunate vessel and its passengers at the time 
of the typhoon. A strong wind blowing up the river 



FIRST VISIT TO THE HOMELAND, SHIPWRECKED. 105 

caused the water to overflow both banks at each flood 
tide and to submerge the streets of Shanghai and the 
fields back of the Crawford home. 

After the transfer of his passengers, Captain Cutler 
in the Ariel had made his way slowly towards Shang- 
hai. Having reached the mouth of the Yang Tsze, 
he anchored with one of his guns (his anchors having 
all been lost), got with its crew into his long boat 
and rowed up the river with many difficulties and 
delays. He supposed the bark had preceded him. 
On arriving, all covered with mud, at Fogg and Com- 
pany's store, and being asked "What is the matter?" 
he replied in surprise, "Where are my passengers? 
Have they not come? And have they not told you 
the trouble?" But nothing had been heard of them, 
for they were at that time landlocked among the is- 
lands. He could only tell their friends that he had 
placed them aboard a Siamese bark, but had forgotten 
to ask its name. 

News came that a Siamese vessel had been wrecked 
off Ningpo, and all had been drowned or murdered by 
pirates. This increased for several days the agony of 
Mr. Crawford and their friends, for it was naturally 
inferred that the missionaries were on that unfortu- 
nate vessel, and had shared the fate of the other vic- 
tims. The tug with the Ariel in tow reached Shang- 
hai a few hours in advance of Mrs. Crawford and the 
Yates family, and Mr. Crawford was in the act of 
reading a note from the editor of the North China 
Herald, informing him of their safety, when they 
knocked at his gate. Great anxiety had been felt by 



106 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

all their friends, native and foreign, and during the 
next few days, many were the visits of congratulation 
and thanksgiving for their deliverance. 

But the necessity for the trip still remained, and 
they again sailed for New York November 17, 1857, 
on the ship Nabob. The voyage on the Nabob was 
a weary and uneventful one of one hundred and twelve 
days. On arriving in New York early in March, 1858, 
Mrs. Crawford found letters awaiting her from 
Shanghai. They had gone by way of the Red Sea 
and England, which at that time required two or three 
months time and forty-five cents postage. 

After the departure of the home-going missionaries, 
Mr. Crawford devoted himself earnestly to his work. 
A number were baptized, and good progress was made 
by the infant church. It was, however, deemed ad- 
visable for him to make a visit to the United States 
before his wife's return, rather than wait until his 
health should be too much impaired by the climate. 
So leaving the work in the hands of Mr. Cabaniss, on 
the thirteenth of August, 1858, he sailed on the Lizzie 
Jarvis for Puget Sound, arriving at Port Townsend 
in sixty days. After a stay there of seventeen days 
he took a steamer for San Francisco, and thence by 
way of Panama and Cuba for New Orleans. He 
reached Mrs. Crawford near Starkville, Mississippi, 
late in November. 

During their visit in the United States, opportuni- 
ties were continually embraced to present the needs 
of their fields to churches and individuals in that fa- 
vored homeland. They spent some time in Tennessee, 



FIRST VISIT TO THE HOMELAND, SHIPWRECKED. 107 

as the Baptists in the western part of that state had 
pledged themselves to their support. Then they went 
to Richmond for medical treatment, and while there 
attended the Southern Baptist Convention, in May, 

i8 59 . 

In December of that year they proceeded, by way of 
Cuba and Panama, to San Francisco, hoping to find 
a vessel going direct to Shanghai, and thus avoid the 
long sea voyage by which they had first gone to China. 
They also visited Rev. J. L. Shuck, who, in addition 
to his care of an American church, was then a mis- 
sionary at Sacramento, laboring for the Chinese. 
While awaiting an opportunity for sailing, Mr. Craw- 
ford accepted a call to supply a little church at lone 
City, situated among the foothills of the Sierra Ne- 
vada mountains. 

Hearing of no vessel for Shanghai they sailed for 
Hong Kong in April, i860, on the ship Oracle. They 
touched at Honolulu, and made the voyage in forty- 
nine days. After three days steaming from Hong 
Kong, they landed at Shanghai, taking their friends 
by surprise, as news of their sailing from America 
had not preceded them. Mr. Yates and family had 
arrived at Shanghai two months earlier, having gone 
by the old route around the Cape of Good Hope. 
During their absence Mr. and Mrs. Cabaniss, greatly 
to their regret, had left for the United States, but 
the Holmes and Hartwell families had been added 
to the mission. 

The John Brown raid took place just before the 
Crawfords left the South, and the political horizon 



108 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

was dark, but they did not dream that this event was 
to be the precursor of the bloody fratricidal war which 
ere long burst upon the American people. 



CHAPTER XL 

VISIT TO THE TAI PING REBELS. 

Soon after the return of the Crawfords from the 
United States in May, i860, the great city of Su Chow, 
ninety miles west of Shanghai, was captued by the Tai 
Ping rebels. As already stated, they had held Nankin 
about seven years. The army they had sent against 
Peking, suffering much from the cold, had been 
repulsed with great loss. But now, after recuperating, 
they turned their arms against the districts of the 
Plain, capturing Yang Chow, Su Chow, Woosih, 
Hang Chow, and innumerable other populous cities. 
At their capital they busied themselves in making 
iaws, and printing the Bible and other Christian books 
The Bible was adopted as the principle text book in 
their schools, and from it themes were selected for 
their government examinations, superceding the old 
classics still used by the Tartar dynasty. Missionaries 
were naturally anxious that these semi-converts to 
Christianity should not be left to their own wild vaga- 
ries and interpretation of the Scriptures, and longed 
for an opportunity to become their religious guides. 

Mr. Crawford now decided to visit Su Chow in 
order to examine the prospects for opening a mission 
there. Messrs. Holmes and Hartwell and a native 
Christian teacher were invited to accompany him on 
this perilous journey. Passing up the Su Chow creek 
for about fifteen miles they came to a desolated region 



110 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

lying between the lines of the two belligerent parties, 
and the boatmen, seeing the danger before them, re- 
fused to advance. Either to remain stationary or to 
turn back and give up the enterprise would be equally 
dangerous. Kind and considerate reasoning finally 
induced them to proceed, and to push boldly on to 
Kwen San, the nearest rebel city. As they approached 
the gates, Mr. Crawford stood out on the prow of the 
boat in full view with a New Testament in his hand, 
and cried to the pickets on the wall, "We are brethren, 
brethren !" and at once met with a most cordial wel- 
come. The commander received them at his residence 
in great state, surrounded by his body guard. An in- 
considerate breach of etiquette on the part of one of 
the missionaries (taking a seat without being invited 
to do so), highly incensed the general, and for a while 
threatened the object of the mission with signal defeat. 
Good humor, however, was soon restored by an apol- 
ogy, tact and suavity, and a written permission was 
procured to go on to Su Chow, now in command of 
Tsoong Wang, or Middle King. 

The next day the boat proceeded on its way among 
numerous dead bodies in the canal and wrecked vil- 
lages on the banks, with now and then a few despair- 
ing natives standing upon the ruins. On they went all 
that day and most of the next, the number of swollen, 
putrifying bodies increasing as they proceeded, and 
made a sight sickening beyond all expression. No 
wounds were visible on these nude floating corpses, 
and inquiry brought out the fact that on the approach 
of the rebels these people had drowned themselves. It 



VISIT TO THE TAI PING REBELS. Ill 

has been estimated that at the capture of Su Chow 
eighty thousand of its inhabitants committed suicide. 
As the boat neared its destination, the dead bodies 
became so numerous as to impede its progress. The 
sight and odor were so offensive that Mr. Crawford 
became very sick. About two miles from Su Chow, 
the people of a large town had extemporized a rude 
battery on the bank of the stream. The approach of 
the boat threw them into a state of great excitement. 
Beating their gongs, they called together the inhab- 
itants, men and women, with spears, hoes, pitchforks 
and other implements, to prevent the advance of the 
boat, supposing its occupants to be rebels. Being de- 
tained for some time in explaining themselves to the 
excited people, the missionaries discovered a rebel 
army approaching the doomed place. Fearing they 
might share the fate of the resisting town, the boat 
was ordered to make its escape by a small canal into 
the middle of a lake, where the party remained with- 
out being discovered for a couple of hours, listening 
to the cries of the people and seeing the flames rise 
from their burning dwellings. When all was quiet 
they pursued their journey by a more circuitous route 
toward the city. 

The entrance to Su Chow proved a more hazardous 
undertaking than that to Kwen San. The boat pulled 
up some distance from the city. Mr. Crawford, being 
prostrated by his late sickness, remained on board, 
while the other two missionaries and the teacher went 
ashore and walked toward the gate, carrying in their 
hands bottles of drinking water. The guards on the 



112 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

wall, seeing the strangers coming and mistaking the 
water bottles for weapons of war, raised an alarm and 
created a great commotion. Dropping their bottles 
and throwing up their hands, the missionaries cried 
out, "Brethren, brethren !" and were finally received 
within the gates. The guards becoming satisfied, sent 
a young officer to remain with Mr. Crawford on the 
boat. In an hour or two messengers came to escort 
him into the city, where the whole visiting party be- 
came the guests of General Leo, the commander-in- 
chief. General Leo told Mr. Crawford that Su Chow 
was then in too unsettled a state for missionary resi- 
dence, but he hoped in the near future a better day 
would come when Christian teachers would be wel- 
come among them. At a second interview, a number 
of officers being present, they requested Mr. Craw- 
ford to take letters to the American, English and 
French ministers, then at Shanghai, asking recognition 
as a government. They bore these letters, which were 
written upon Imperial yellow satin, with them upon 
their return which was by the same route and with 
similar incidents to their coming. These documents 
were declined by the ministers to whom they were 
offered and remained long in Mr. Crawford's posses- 
sion. 

In the latter part of the summer of i860, the Tai 
Pings having taken all the intervening country, made 
demonstrations against Shanghai, doubtless expecting 
the foreigners would not interfere, but permit its cap- 
ture. But by this time the British were beginning to 
feel in a less neutral mood and somewhat impatient 



VISIT TO THE TAI PING REBELS. 113 

of the interruption of their trade caused by this long 
continued war. When, therefore, the rebel army 
entered the southern suburb (the Imperial troops 
flying before them), to their surprise and chagrin 
great shells from the British men-of-war came shriek- 
ing into their midst, and they retired without firing 
an answering shot. 

During the panic caused by this raid a characteristic 
Chinese incident occurred, which is related by Mr. 
Crawford: "The teacher of a certain missionary fled 
with his family, consisting of a wife and a grown-up 
son in search of a place of safety beyond the'Whong 
Poo river. On reaching the bank they found but one 
small boat and that on the point of pushing off. Only 
two more persons could take passage, and it became 
necessary for them to decide at once which two of 
them should be saved and which one should be left to 
perish. All readily agreed that the son's life was of 
first importance. Should he be slain there would be 
no one to take care of the old people, or to sacrifice to 
their spirits after death. It was next decided that the 
old man could get along better without the woman 
than she could without him. So the two men got into 
the boat as it pushed off to the opposite shore, leaving 
the old woman, with her little bound feet, to the mercy 
of the rebels who spared neither age nor sex. Fortu- 
nately all survived, and the old teacher told the story 
after his return with evident complacency." 

Late in the autumn, the dead bodies having now dis- 
appeared from the canal, Mr. Crawford decided to 
make a second tour of observation, accompanied this 



114 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

time by his wife and Mr. Wong on one boat, and Mr. 
and Mrs. Carpenter of the Seventh-day Baptist mis- 
sion on another. These Sabbatarian friends having 
heard that the rebels kept Saturday as their Sabbath, 
were anxious to confirm them in it. With a little 
American flag flying, the boats passed a large fleet of 
Imperial junks, stationed a few miles above Shang- 
hai, without provoking an investigation. Further on 
was another large fleet beyond which lay a region of 
anarchy and desolation, subject to raids from both 
belligerents. Here the travelers were in the greatest 
danger. Most of the inhabitants had fled or commit- 
ted suicide, but a few remained by their old homes, 
constantly robbed, they said, alike by rebels and Im- 
perialists; so they themselves turned robbers with im- 
punity when opportunity offered. 

One afternoon, as the two little boats pulled up to 
the bank of the canal, the whole atmosphere seemed 
filled with desolation. The usually merry villages 
were hushed in despair, and nothing could be heard all 
night but the mournful howlings of dogs in every 
direction. It is generally known that when society is 
disturbed the dogs are also disturbed. So here their 
weird howlings chimed in to intensify the sense of 
danger and grief. It was a most anxious, sleepless 
night, no one knowing what might happen before 
morning. 

The rebels offered no objection to the visitors enter- 
ing their lines. Some foreigners had been supplying 
them with munitions of war, and they looked upon 
these as friends. It was with a tinge of bitterness that 



VISIT TO THE TAI PING REBELS. 115 

some of them asked why they had not been permitted 
to take possession of Shanghai. The boats drew up a 
few hundred yards from one of the gates of Su Chow, 
and the gentlemen were escorted to the residence of 
General Leo, where they explained the object of their 
visit. General Leo requested to see the ladies of the 
party, and accordingly Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Car- 
penter accompanied their husbands to the next inter- 
view, not realizing that the officials had not brought 
their families with them. General Leo, a handsome, 
brave looking man, said that he highly appreciated 
their wish to instruct his people. "But," he continued, 
"Nankin, our capital, is the place for you. Our fam- 
ilies are all there in a more settled condition, and will 
be glad to have you with them. Here as you see we 
are only a garrison of soldiers, constantly going out to 
battle, and liable at any time to be attacked by the 
enemy." 

The formality of explaining their presence was nec- 
essary, but the reply of General Leo was not required 
to convince them that a residence in Su Chow would 
be impossible and useless. The state of things around 
them had filled them with unutterable grief and loath- 
ing. They should have known that before going; but 
they had in mind conditions similar to those which had 
existed in Shanghai during her eighteen months' siege, 
when their labors were so warmly welcomed by the 
people of that city. At Su Chow there were none of 
the original inhabitants. All had fled or died, or be- 
come involuntary rebel soldiers. No women or chil- 
dren were to be seen. The woodwork of many of the 



116 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

houses had been torn out for fuel, and palatial resi- 
dences had been turned into stables. Fragments of 
handsome furniture lay scattered about; ornaments 
that once decorated the bridal boudoir were trampled 
under foot. Here a child's shoe, there a maiden's 
bonnet or tuft of hair, lay moldering on the ground. 
Rude young rebels were practicing their newly pur- 
chased firearms on mutilated stumps of their fathers' 
gods as targets. Most of them were dressed in dirty 
silks, green, red and blue, which they had looted in 
this lately opulent emporium of fashion and style. 
Their repulsive, hopeless countenances made the 
hearts of the missionaries sick. It was altogether a 
scene never to be forgotten. They could hardly wait 
for the time to come when they might turn their faces 
away from such depressing surroundings. They got 
permission from the general to start next morning. 
He sent with his permit to depart a fat young sheep 
and a basket of oranges. The missionaries dared not 
refuse the gift, but they could no more have tasted 
that mutton or fruit than they could have drunk hu- 
man blood. Their possession was associated with the 
destruction of too many human lives. They were pre- 
sented to the boatmen who accepted them with grati- 
tude. Just before their boat pushed off, some soldiers 
came aboard to look at the foreign articles. Thus de- 
laying them quite a while, Mr. Wong said to the boat- 
men, "It is time to start." Instantly a young rebel 
drew his sword from its scabbard and rushed at Wong, 
crying, "Who says be off, do you say start?" Wong, 
turning pale, expecting instant death, replied, "It is 



VISIT TO THE TAI PING REBELS. 117 

not I, but the general, who has commanded to depart." 
This brought the soldiers to their senses and they left 
the boat without delay. 

The return journey to Shanghai was similar to the 
one going up, only they were more conscious of the 
dangers of the way. On nearing the Imperial lines, a 
heavy cannonading led them to believe that a battle 
was raging; yet there seemed nothing for them to do 
but to go forward, hoping to find a way among the 
many canals to avoid the fleets. Finding none, they 
got out of the boats to walk along the banks, in the 
hope that by being recognized as foreigners they 
might go on unmolested. On they went, meeting the 
advancing fleet, but found to their great relief that it 
was gun practice in which they were engaged, and 
their boats passed without a challenge. No doubt 
these Imperialists thought, "What will not the fool- 
hardy foreigners undertake?" Mrs. Crawford, who 
was in this party, says, "In after years I have appre- 
ciated more fully than I did then what an elderly 
friend said to me on our return to Shanghai, 'This 
going to Su Chow is the only rash act I ever knew 
you to be guilty of/ " On all the journey they saw no 
boats but war junks, with here and there a little skiff 
rowing from one village to another. No general trav- 
eling was to be seen anywhere, death and destruction 
reigned all around. 

During the winter of i860 and 1861, the rebels threat- 
ened Shanghai again, keeping it for weeks in constant 
alarm. But in January a fall of snow thirty-two inches 
deep put an end to their last menace. By this time 



118 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

western nations were getting impatient of the un- 
settled state of affairs. A few foreign adventurers 
joined the Imperialists, and aided them in drilling their 
soldiers. The best modern weapons were furnished 
them by foreign merchants. General Ward, a prom- 
inent leader in this line, had been a companion of the 
noted filibuster, General William Walker, in Nica- 
raugua. After several years of efficient service in the 
Imperial cause he was slain in battle. Then Colonel 
Gordon of the English Royal Artillery took command, 
and with his trained troops enable Li Hung Chang 
to recapture Su Chow. This was shortly followed by 
the fall of Nankin and the collapse of the rebellion. 
It is estimated that not less than one hundred millions 
of people lost their lives by this fruitless and appar- 
ently foolish attempt at revolution. This is perhaps 
unparalleled in the history of the world. After its 
termination General Ward was deified by the Emperor 
and a temple was erected to his memory at Sung 
Kiang Fu. Colonel Gordon's fate at Khartoum some 
years later will be remembered by the reader. He 
went by the soubriquet of "Chinese Gordon." ' 

The French-English war with China was terminated 
by the treaty of Tientsin in i860. By this treaty was 
secured the opening of several new cities to foreign 
residence and the missionaries began to scatter in 
various directions. Yet a goodly number remained in 
Shanghai. In December of that year Messrs. Holmes 
and Hartwell with their families removed to open up 
new stations at Chefoo and Teng Chow, in Shantung 
province. Mr. Hartwell's departure left the Craw- 



VISIT TO THE TAI PING REBELS. 119 

fords alone at Te Hwo Dong, and Mr. Holmes' 
removal left vacant his dwelling near the north gate. 
Dr. Burton, who was now supporting himself, bought 
the Te Hwo Dong property from the mission, and the 
Crawfords moved into the Holmes house. Mr. Craw- 
ford gave up all hope of work among the rebels, but 
still longed to advance into the interior. In the spring 
of 1861, a British squadron proceeded up the Yang 
Tsze river to inspect the ports thrown open along its 
banks. Mr. Crawford with some other missionaries got 
permission of the Admiral to accompany the expedi- 
tion, hoping to make arrangements to settle either in 
the great commercial center of Han Kow, or in Wu 
Chang, the provincial capital of Hu Pei, on the opposite 
side of the river. The fleet stopping for a while at 
Nankin, Mr. Crawford, accompanied by two other 
missionaries, embraced the opportunity for visiting 
Mr. Roberts, who had some months previously suc- 
ceeded in reaching that city and his former inquirer 
now styled "The Celestial Emperor." While passing 
along the streets, they were urged by some well- 
dressed men to enter a certain palace. Yielding to the 
pressing invitation they were ushered in and received 
in royal state by the wang (king), who sat upon a 
throne and wore a large glittering crown. The rebel 
leaders supposed the English had come to communi- 
cate with them, and that these gentlemen had landed 
for that purpose, but the missionaries explained that 
they were ministers of the gospel, not officials, and 
desired to call upon their friend Mr. Roberts. The 
king looked at his guards with a humorous smile, but 



120 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

ordered two of them to conduct the visitors to Mr. 
Roberts' room in the Celestial Palace. Here they 
found Mr. Roberts living alone in a large empty loft. 
He spoke rather discouragingly of his prospects for 
guiding the rebels in the way of the Lord. About a 
year after this, Mr. Roberts fled from Nankin for his 
life, going first to Shanghai, and then to the United 
States where he died. 

Being pleased with Wu Chang, Mr. Crawford be- 
gan negotiating for a lot to build a residence, when an 
alarm of the approach of the rebel army threw the 
whole city into confusion. The people fled in all direc- 
tions, and business of every kind was entirely sus- 
pended. Indeed the whole city was deserted. The 
British fleet on its return trip touched again at Nan- 
kin, where Mr. Crawford heard of the secession of 
South Carolina, saw the American war in the near 
future, and relinquished for the time all hope of open- 
ing a new station. Just previous to this had occurred 
the Indian Mutiny, one of the most horrible tragedies 
of modern times, and the allied English-French war 
with China. These struggles covered a period of 
about four years, 1856- 1860, and by both of them mis- 
sionary operations in Shanghai were greatly affected. 
During this same period the Tai Ping rebellion was 
raging all around the missionaries, filling the city of 
Shanghai and vicinity with myriads of refugees, while 
famine and pestilence followed as a natural conse- 
quence. The trials and heartaches brought on by this 
state of things on the Crawfords and all other mission- 
aries could not be told by the writer nor easily appre- 
ciated by the reader. 



CHAPTER XII. 

TROUBLOUS TIMES. 

For more than three years after their return from 
the United States, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford continued 
their mission work in Shanghai much the same as 
formerly. Mr. Crawford and his teacher, Wong Ping 
San, preached regularly at the Sung Way Dong, the 
general mission chapel, and also at the Nay Way 
Dong, his own rented house. To this latter place Mrs. 
Crawford accompanied them two or three times each 
week. The boys' and girls' schools at Nay Way Dong 
which had been disbanded when they left for America, 
were not resumed there; but Mr. Crawford rented 
another house for the special use of his wife in the 
northern part of the city. Here she opened a girls' 
day school, and held regular meetings for women twice 
each week. Though the minds of all were much dis- 
turbed by wars and rumors of wars, their labors were 
not during these years without visible fruit, a few con- 
verts from time to time being brought into the church. 

Among those thus added were a Dutchman named 
DeGrew and his Chinese wife, living in the French 
settlement. Through the influence of Mr. Kloeckers, 
a Dutch missionary previously baptized by Mr. Craw- 
ford, Mr. DeGrew was led to repentance and conver- 
sion. In consequence he decided to reform his life 
and unite with the Baptist Church of Shanghai. For 
some time he had been living with a Chinese woman 

9 



122 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

in an irregular manner, but was now anxious for her 
to become both a Christian and his lawful wife. 
Therefore calling upon the missionaries one day, he 
told them his wishes and asked Mrs. Crawford if she 
would give the woman religious instruction, which she 
cordially agreed to do. DeGrew could not speak 
Chinese and the woman could not speak Dutch, so they 
conversed with each other in the jargon called "pidgin 
English. " Soon after this the woman came to the 
Crawford home dressed in foreign costume. After a 
few remarks on ordinary topics she said, "I no 
savee (understand) Englishman God. DeGrew no let 
me chin chin (worship) China joss (idols), so I 
thinkee suppose I makee die, where I go? No can go 
topside (heaven), no can go bottom side (hell)/' She 
meant that having no religion to take her to the one 
place nor to the other, after death her soul would be 
a hopeless wanderer. She was a young woman of 
good mind, and after much careful instruction and 
prayer she professed conversion, and the two were 
afterward baptized and married. They became regu- 
lar attendants at Sabbath services and seemed to live 
Christian lives to the best of their knowledge and op- 
portunities. 

Though none were gathered into the church from 
Mrs. Crawford's women's meetings, yet they had good 
reason for believing that two persons were garnered 
in heaven. On Wednesday and Sunday afternoons 
Mrs. Crawford visited this place, examined the school 
girls and held a service for the women, the girls also 
attending. One day after services were over a hand- 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 123 

somely dressed, good looking woman, Mrs. Dzung, 
came down stairs and said in a light, derisive tone, 
"Preach some to me. I was not ready to come down 
sooner, but now I wish to see how you do it." "No," 
replied Mrs. Crawford, "I never teach the gospel for 
people's amusement. The words contained in this 
precious book are for our salvation, not for our merry- 
making. Do you know that your soul is immortal, and 
that without the Saviour offered in this gospel you can 
never enjoy happiness?" Finding she gave close at- 
tention Mrs. Crawford had a long talk with her, and 
from that time she became a regular attendant at the 
meetings, her interest constantly increasing. She 
asked many serious questions and learned to pray. 
After some months she moved to another part of the 
city and nothing could be heard of her new home. 
But one day two or three years later, Mr. Wong came 
to Mrs. Crawford saying that Mrs. Dzung was very 
ill and wished to see her. Finding herself very low of 
consumption, she thought of her Christian friends and 
sent word begging Wong's permission to come and 
die at his house. On entering her room Mrs. Craw- 
ford found her pale and thin, a wreck of her former 
self, crouching on the bed. The dying woman reached 
both hands toward the visitor exclaiming, "Oh I am 
so glad to see you ! I am going to be with Jesus. I 
am not afraid to die — Jesus has saved me." She spoke 
with difficulty, but Mrs. Crawford talked long with 
her, greatly rejoicing over this soul saved. A day or 
two after this she requested Mrs. Wong to put on her 
burial clothes and remove her from the bed to a 



124 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

stretcher, which is the Chinese custom. She assured 
all her friends that she was going to be with Jesus, and 
asked them not to weep nor perform any idolatrous 
ceremonies for her. A few hours afterwards she died. 
The other case was a man. Among those who regu- 
larly attended Mrs. Crawford's meetings was a woman 
whose name is not remembered. She listened atten- 
tively, and often asked explanations of what she did 
not understand, seeming to try to remember all she 
heard. One day it was noticed as she came in she 
made signs to a man to go into the adjoining school 
room where he could hear without being seen. After 
services were over she told Mrs. Crawford that her 
husband was in the next room listening to what was 
said, thinking it would be improper to come in where 
the women were. Hearing their conversation he 
showed himself and asked Mrs. Crawford if she would 
give him instruction. He had received from some mis- 
sionary a copy of the New Testament which he loved 
to read, and he was in the habit of praying to the true 
God. On account of his occupation he could find no 
leisure to attend preaching during the day, while at 
night the city gates were shut and there was no 
preaching within the walls; so he sent his wife regu- 
larly to hear the teaching in the women's meetings 
and she repeated to him all she could remember. After 
a long talk with him, he was requested to come to the 
missionary's home and see Mr. Crawford. When he 
did so the interview gave them both great joy, for 
they felt sure he was a true child of God. Soon after- 
wards the woman was missed one day from her accus- 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 125 

tomed seat in the little congregation, but the next 
meeting she was there with her eyes red and swollen 
from weeping. Her husband was dead. "He was not 
afraid to die/' she said, "because he knew Jesus had 
saved him. He told me to continue to come and learn 
to walk the heavenly road." 

In the summer of i860, the Board had sent out Mr. 
and Mrs. Bond for North China, and Mr. and Mrs. 
Rohrer to open a mission in Japan. They sailed, with 
two other missionary families, on the Edwin Forest 
which was never heard from again. Some of Mrs. 
Rohrer's personal effects, forwarded after the sailing 
of the Edwin Forest, arrived safely at Shanghai; but 
for weeks and months all waited in vain for the com- 
ing of the new missionaries. Mrs. Rohrer's mother, 
Mrs. Robinson, who had been providentially hindered 
from sailing with the party, wrote anxious letters about 
her daughter. As time wore on all hearts grew sick 
and gave them up as lost; and the sad task was per- 
formed, in compliance with Mrs. Robinson's direc- 
tions, of taking out certain articles from Mrs. Rohrer's 
boxes to keep as mementoes, and repacking the 
remainder to be returned to the widowed and now 
childless mother. The loss of these expected co-work- 
ers was a deep sorrow to those on the field. 

China had not only been engaged in a life and death 
struggle with her own Tai Ping rebels, but, during a 
part of those years, had also to defend herself against 
the allied armies of England and France. During the 
English-French war no Imperial troops came near 
Shanghai, but the English and French invading sol- 



126 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

diers might be seen all about the settlements. The 
rebels were capturing city after city throughout the 
Plain, and the inhabitants fled in great numbers to 
Shanghai for safety. This was truly an anomolous 
state of affairs. While the allies were waging war 
upon China they were also protecting her people on the 
coast from the rebels. Both parties were willing that 
the treaty ports should be neutral territory, in order 
that trade might go on as usual and the customs still 
be collected for the Chinese government by her for- 
eign employees. The population of Shanghai, usually 
estimated at 300,000, now rose to fully 1,000,000, a 
large portion of the excess consisting of refugees from 
the surrounding cities and towns. About 20,000 of 
them were Nankin people who seven years previously 
had fled to Su Chow before the rebels, and now, on its 
capture, to Shanghai. Both foreigners and natives 
contributed largely to the relief of the sufferers. Bam- 
boo sheds were built to shelter them, but these were 
utterly inadequate to the demand, and thousands per- 
ished from exposure to the heavy rains in this low, 
malarial region. Their miseries were beyond expres- 
sion or power of relief and they died like sheep. The 
necessities of life became exorbitantly high and some 
of them were difficult to obtain at any price. During 
the sickly seasons of these years, cholera carried off its 
victims by tens of thousands. Many coffins were 
placed in the open fields and roadsides, while hundreds 
of the victims who could not afford this covering were 
cast out to be devoured by gangs of hungry dogs. 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 127 

This daily familiarity with the dying and dead was 
harrowing in the extreme. 

At the same time political clouds were growing dark 
in America. Dr. J. B. Taylor, Corresponding Secre- 
tary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern 
Baptist Convention, wrote Mr. Crawford, March 22, 
1861, as follows: "My dear brother, I address you 
at Shanghai, because we do not know where you will 
permanently settle. We are feeling solicitous on this 
point, desiring that you may select some position 
where you may be able to lay deep and broad founda- 
tions ; and as you are something like the apostle Paul, 
not liking to build on another man's foundation, I trust 
you may be guided by the divine wisdom. It will 
require much circumspection to decide this question 
aright, but if the Lord shall be your counsellor all will 
be well. I see you have been at Nankin. What are 
your impressions? Mr. Roberts is publishing long 
and flaming notices of his great influence with the 
rebels. I enclose you a specimen. Do you think the 
influence of this insurrection as a movement is to be 
favorable to the spread of the true gospel ? As I sup- 
pose you will desire to learn the condition of things in 
our own country, I will state a few facts bearing on 
the question. Nothing could be more unhappy than 
the state of our country, except the actual occurrence 
of war. Three weeks have passed since the elevation 
of the Republican president and party, and every day 
the expectation has been, all through our land, that 
a collision between the two sections would occur. The 
forts, Sumpter and Pickens, in South Carolina and 



128 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Florida, are yet held by the United States, with every 
preparation on the other side to take them by force if 
not surrendered. Mr. Lincoln declares himself re- 
solved to collect the revenue and hold the forts in the 
seceding states, while they as persistently declare it 
shall not be done. Thus you see that war may at any 
moment be precipitated upon us. I assure you the 
hearts of the people are filled with dread, lest fraternal 
blood should flow and a deep, bitter hate take place 
between these sections of the land. The Confederate 
States are proceeding with all the form and force of 
a separate government, having marshalled large armies 
ready for a conflict if necessary. The border slave 
states are yet undecided as to the course they will 
pursue. They will probably call a convention to con- 
sider this whole question. The hope is entertained by 
the Union party that the seceded states will yet come 
back upon the offering of proper guarantees on the 
part of the North. This hope is leading to a postpone- 
ment of action. In the meantime, the border states 
are suffering from a conflict of opinion in their own 
midst. Many are for immediate, unconditional separa- 
tion, others for awaiting developments. The Republi- 
can party are perplexed, not knowing what to do. If 
they do not coerce, but suffer the seceding states to 
proceed with all the paraphernalia of a distinct govern- 
ment, it will be a virtual acknowledgement of their in- 
dependence; if they do coerce, the border states will 
be driven into connection with the new Confederacy by 
sympathy, and thus war with its direful effects will be 
visited upon the nation. This is the condition of 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 129 

things, sad and fearful, which is filling all our minds 
with consternation. The effect of this on the business 
interests of the country you can well imagine. All is 
uncertainty and distrust in commercial circles, and 
consequently we are feeling an influence unfavorable 
for the collection of funds. We are hoping, however, 
that ere long these calamities will be overpassed, and 
that with new energy we shall be able to prosecute our 
great and blessed work. I have been much gratified 
to know that thus far Sister Crawford and you have 
been preserved, and that in the enjoyment of a good 
measure of health you are prosecuting the work on 
which you have entered. Please present kind, Chris- 
tian regards to sister Crawford. Her solicitude for 
the perishing around her, especially those of her own 
sex, I believe will be attended with results to the glory 
of God. Let me encourage you both to trust in Him. 
He will bring the desires of your hearts to pass. He 
will give His Son to see the travail of His soul through 
your instrumentality. So prays your affectionate 
brother, James B. Taylor." 

Shortly after this date the war of secession actually 
opened. It was difficult to collect any funds, and Dr. 
Taylor wrote the mission to curtail expenses in every 
possible way. Thenceforth only salaries were paid 
from the mission treasury. The proceeds of the sale 
of the Te Hwo Dong house and a check which had 
been sent for the lost missionaries were early in 1862 
available for this purpose. In the spring of that year 
the Sung Way Dong, to the great grief of the mission- 



130 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

aries, was accidentally destroyed by fire, but the walls 
and tower were left standing and it was thought desir- 
able to rebuild at once. While consulting together on 
the subject, Mr. Crawford proposed to Mr. Yates that 
he would collect the money if Mr. Yates would super- 
intend the repairs, to which the latter agreed. They 
drew up a statement of the facts in the case,, and of 
their helpless condition on account of the American 
war, and Mr. Crawford set out to see what assistance 
he could obtain. He took the houses street by street, 
in the foreign settlement, and solicited contributions 
from every one, regardless of nationality or religious 
belief. All except heathen Chinese responded cheer- 
fully, some even liberally, and in a few weeks about 
three thousand taels were secured (a tael is an ounce 
of silver), they themselves and various other mission- 
aries, and also some native Christians, contributing. 
Repairs were begun without delay, and in a few 
months they were again holding services in the chapel 
as before. Its original construction cost the Southern 
Baptist people about twelve thousand dollars, while its 
restoration cost them nothing. Before this Mr. Craw- 
ford and Mr. Yates had begun to support themselves 
by aiding the Chinese owners to sell their land to for- 
eigners.* 

* It has been erroneously stated that Dr. Yates during this 
period supported himself and the other missionaries by fill- 
ing the position of vice-consul. He did support himself by 
acting in the office of municipal interpreter, but he did not 
support the other missionaries. They did this themselves, 
though some of them were aided by contributions from friends 
at home, which were gotten through the blockade. It was 
some years after the civil war that Dr. Yates held the posi- 
tion of vice-consul. 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 131 

The large increase of population requiring addi- 
tional house room brought the land in and around the 
settlement into demand, and foreigners were eager to 
purchase. Messrs. Crawford and Yates, being con- 
versant with both the English and Chinese languages, 
were qualified to act as go-betweens, or real estate 
agents, in these transactions. They received sufficient 
commission on the sales to support themselves and 
their mission work, and have a surplus left to invest in 
lots which yielded a good income. Besides this Mr. 
and Mrs. Crawford gave two hours' instruction in 
English every night to a class of young Chinese mer- 
chants, at ten dollars each per month. Mr. Crawford 
in general having command of his own time, attended 
to his land sales in the forenoon and to his preaching 
in the afternoon as usual. While it cannot be asserted 
that these extra labors did not interfere with his work, 
yet the missionary scarcely perceived that they did. 
Of course he had less time for study, but through the 
experience of the eighteen months thus employed he 
learned much that proved of use to him in subsequent 
life. 

In the summer of 1862 Mr. Crawford was very ill, 
while Dr. Bradley, their boarder, and Lao Lung, their 
cook, had sharp attacks of cholera, but all were merci- 
fully restored. Dr. Taylor, Secretary of the Mission 
Board, in a letter sent through the blockade, author- 
ized the mission to borrow money on the credit of the 



132 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Board for the support of the mission while the war 
should last, but fortunately this mission was not driven 
to that necessity. Dr. Burton, who had returned to 
the United States, sent, in 1862, a year's salary to Mr. 
Hartwell, and later an additional sum of five hundred 
ounces of silver to each of the other missionary fam- 
ilies. Mr. Crawford with Dr. Burton's consent, do- 
nated the five hundred ounces given him to the rebuild- 
ing of the Sung Way Dong. Mr. Holmes had re- 
signed his salary at the opening of hostilities and en- 
gaged with his brother in a lucrative business at the 
newly opened port of Chefoo. After his murder by 
banditti in October, 1861, Mrs. Holmes was allowed 
one-third of the profits of the firm which, with the pro- 
ceeds of some cotton smuggled through the blockade 
by the Board, proved sufficient for her maintenance. 
Besides a land agency, Mr. Yates accepted the situa- 
tion of interpreter to the municipal council of the 
English settlement at a good salary. When he joined 
his wife and daughter in Europe he turned the position 
over to Mr. Hartwell, who, by this time, had found it 
necessary to leave Teng Chow in order to make a sup- 
port for his family. Thus the wants of the mission- 
aries and the necessary expenses of the mission work 
were provided for during the terrible American war, 
and on until the home people had had some time to 
recuperate. A letter from Dr. Taylor written two years 
after the fall of the Confederacy, stated that the 
Board's missionaries in Shanghai and Shantung met 
the Board's liabilities during the five years from 1861 
to 1866 inclusive, for salaries and working expenses to 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 133 

the amount of twelve thousand, six hundred and 
eighty-one taels, including Dr. Burton's donation of 
two thousand two hundred and fifty taels. This was 
equal at that time to eighteen thousand dollars in 
United States gold. Dr. Taylor further wrote, "The 
Board appreciates the energy and activity of these 
brethren and their wonderful skill in the fearful crisis 
through which they had passed. They thus saved the 
churches of the South from liabilities which would 
have seriously crippled, if not entirely broken up, all 
our operations in heathen lands. As it was our 
brethren nobly suffered and labored, in sympathy with 
thousands and thousands of their brethren in thp 
South, who had literally lost all. In view of this the 
committee recommends the adoption of the following 
resolutions : 

"i. Resolved, That the Board recognize with grati- 
tude to God the opening of His providence by which 
our missionaries in Shanghai and Shantung were en- 
abled by their own exertions largely to secure funds 
for the support of the mission, when funds from the 
Board failed to reach them. 

"2. Resolved, That the Board feel themselves called 
upon to reiterate the sentiment expressed in their last 
annual report, that the brethren of the different mis- 
sions especially deserve our thanks for their consid- 
erate regard for our condition by voluntarily reducing 
their expenses in some instances, and in others by 
partial secular labors providing so largely for their 
own support. As the Board had authorized them in, 
the event of straightened circumstances to secure 



134 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

loans, a much larger and more embarrassing debt 
might have been created, from which it would have 
been difficult to release ourselves. The brethren pre- 
fer to suffer privation and hardship, being willing to 
share with the sorrowing ones at home, who were 
drinking in various forms the bitter cup of affliction." 

These resolutions expressed the views and feelings 
of the Board toward the actions of the missionaries 
then on the field. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

REMOVAL TO TENG CHOW, SHANTUNG PROVINCE. 

Early in the summer of 1863, Mr. Crawford who 
had never rallied from the previous year's illness, be- 
gan to show signs of general debility. The liver dis- 
eases so prevalent at Shanghai were preying upon his 
system and in July he was prostrated. Shortly after 
this his wife was taken with fever and they were 
unable to help each other. Their physician peremp- 
torily advised Mr. Crawford's immediate departure for 
America or elsewhere; but to return to their home in 
the south where civil war was raging and all her 
ports blockaded, was out of the question. Moreover, 
to leave China would be to cut themselves off from any 
reliable means of support. The rent from their lands, 
though sufficient for an economical living, was quite 
uncertain, being dependent upon the movements of the 
Tai Ping rebels and the consequent continuance of the 
inflated population and demand for real estate. The 
rebels were already meeting with reverses, and with 
their collapse rents, especially outside of the foreign 
settlement where Mr. Crawford's property mostly lay, 
would fall to almost nothing. Such were the problems 
before their minds as they lay tossing upon their beds. 
In consultation with Mr. Yates on the situation, it was 
decided that Mr. Crawford's mission dwelling should 
be rented out, and with the proceeds he should remove 
to Shantung, without determining whether he should 



136 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

remain there permanently or return to Shanghai after 
his restoration to health. There was no difficulty in 
finding a tenant, and the rent for the first year was 
about sufficient to pay the expenses of removal, salary 
and house rent for that period in Teng Chow. The 
next year it passed at greatly reduced rates to another 
occupant who soon became bankrupt, and much of the 
money due on it remains to this day unpaid. Both 
were too ill at the time of their departure to make 
definite arrangements about anything. Leaving their 
furniture in the hands of their faithful cook with in- 
structions to follow with it as soon as possible, they 
were carried on board a Hamburg vessel and sailed 
for Chefoo, August 12, 1863, paying one hundred dol- 
lars each for passage. They could say farewell only 
to those native Christians within the city. Mrs. Ling 
and others in the country did not hear of their intended 
departure until they were gone, and were greatly dis- 
tressed in consequence. No steamers were running up 
the coast, and their sailing vessel was ten days in 
making the voyage which is now accomplished by 
steamers in two days. Once fairly out at sea their 
health began to improve, and on reaching Chefoo they 
ceased regarding themselves as invalids. After a few 
days' stay there they proceeded to Teng Chow in a 
rude kind of mule palanquin called shenza, to them a 
new mode of travel. The narrow, rocky road took 
them over hills and valleys most of the way, often 
overlooking the blue waters of the Gulf of Pechele. 
It was like again entering a new world. The scenery 
was varied and interesting and was entirely different 



REMOVAL TO TENG CHOW, SHANTUNG PROVINCE. 137 

from the uninterrupted plain around Shanghai. Most 
of the hills were terraced and under cultivation nearly 
to their summits, while the valleys were groaning 
under a luxuriant harvest of millet, Indian corn, peas, 
hemp and sweet potatoes. The uncultivated parts of 
the mountains were in the main covered with verdant 
grass and a few stunted pines, while trees of various 
kinds were seen along the streams and about the vil- 
lages. A clear bracing atmosphere, the ever varying 
scenery, the delicious fruits, joined with a rest from 
their mental cares, seemed to renew the youth and 
energies of the two missionaries. 

Arriving at Teng Chow August 29, they received a 
most cordial welcome from the Hartwells, and also 
Mrs. Holmes, who had moved from Chefoo the prev- 
ious year. These with the two Presbyterian families, 
then constituted the entire foreign community of the 
place. They were guests of their Baptist friends for 
three months, spending much of their time, hammer in 
hand, "geologizing" among the hills around the city, 
until their strength was fully restored. In December 
they rented temporarily a house that joined Mr. Hart- 
well's, which had been fitted up and occupied by a 
Presbyterian missionary, and began the study of the 
dialect which was a branch of the northern Mandarin. 
By spring Mr. Crawford was able to begin preaching, 
and Mrs. Crawford to labor with Mrs. Holmes among 
the women. 

As already mentioned Mr. Hartwell was by this 
time at Shanghai for the purpose of becoming munic- 
ipal interpreter during Mr. Yates' absence in Europe, 

10 



138 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Mr. Crawford taking charge of Mr. Hartwell's church 
and missionary work at Teng Chow, while the latter 
occupied Shanghai. Soon after this a dear friend of 
the Crawfords, Mrs. M. L. Wood of the Southern 
Methodist mission died in Shanghai, leaving two lit- 
tle boys, Eddie two and a half years, and Charlie six 
months old, to Mrs. Crawford's care. This was of 
course a great responsibility, but they were fortunate 
in securing a faithful nurse who followed the children 
about everywhere, and strictly obeyed injunctions — a 
rare characteristic in a Chinese nurse. She was so 
untiring in her attendance upon them that Mr. Craw- 
ford called her Charlie's shadow. 

Their labors began in Teng Chow soon after China's 
war with England and France, while the people still 
looked upon all foreigners with fear, suspicion and 
hatred. When the Hartwells arrived in 1861, the lead- 
ing men of the city had, in council assembled, decided 
to discourage all intercourse with the outsiders and to 
render their stay as inconvenient and unpleasant as 
possible. Reports were circulated that these barbar- 
ians were inimical to the government, that they were 
spies, that they had come to wean the people's alle- 
giance from the Emperor to foreign rulers, that they 
would kidnap women and children by the ship load to 
send off to the outside countries, that they could throw 
magic spells over the unwary, especially children, to 
make them follow them and become Christians, and 
that they practiced various unknown black arts, and 
were altogether exceedingly dangerous. Fortunately 
it was only by degrees that the missionaries became 



REMOVAL TO TENG CHOW, SHANTUNG PROVINCE. 139 

aware of this state of things, or their bravery might 
have been put more severely to the test than it was. 
Curiosity, despite all their fears, brought numbers to 
their homes. Love of money brought servants and 
teachers, and these soon learning the manner of life 
and the motives of the strangers were able to deny 
many of the slanders that were circulated regarding 
them. Besides the Chinese always received rumors 
with a grain of allowance. They understand the 
craftiness and untruthfulness of their own people, and 
are to some extent ready to see and judge for them- 
selves. They found the missionaries ready to receive 
them into their homes and to be kind to them and their 
children. No authentic case of kidnapping, poisoning 
or bewitching could be proven. The outsiders walked 
about their streets, spoke their language, and laughed 
and chatted like other people ; and after a while began 
to be recognized as "men of like passions with them- 
selves." All this time they were trying to visit the 
natives in their homes and were using every means to 
teach them the word of life. 

After 1864, every day Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. 
Holmes started out on their visits among the women, 
and the oft recurring question, "Where shall we go 
today?" was sometimes answered with difficulty. But 
they found everything to grow easy by persistent prac- 
tice. Taking a little New Testament they read to those 
who would listen, or told of its contents according to 
circumstances. They visited frequently those disposed 
to learn, teaching them the principles of the gospel in 
the best way adapted to their needs and capacities. 



140 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

The streets of Teng Chow presented on either side 
solid stone walls, the only openings to these being the 
doors to the houses, and those of the wealthy were 
always kept closed. The windows all opened into 
inner court yards. On knocking at a door, if they 
were discovered to be foreigners, they were often told 
"not at home," or "the dogs will bite," or sometimes 
plainly, "we do not wish you here," but this did not 
occur very frequently. A more common plan was tQ 
show, by a cool reception, that the visitors were not 
welcome. In these particulars the Chinese are not 
unlike their western sisters. Thus those two brave 
women, often with aching hearts and lagging feet, 
persevered in their work in the face of many discour- 
agements until it became almost easy. Sickness came, 
and early in 1867, Mrs. Holmes took her little boy to 
America for his health. Mrs. Crawford was left alone 
to carry on this work among the women. Yet not 
long alone, for God had already raised up a helper for 
her. 

One day the previous year a beggar woman, Mrs. 
Leo, followed her home, saying she had come to ask 
for medicine for her only child, a boy nine years old. 
She looked on eagerly as Mrs. Crawford consulted 
her medical book. On giving her some medicine for 
the child, she told the woman she had something better 
for her, and then told her of salvation through Christ. 
She listened very earnestly, and Mrs. Crawford asked 
her name and residence and learned that she lived four 
or five miles away. Later she came again, and then 
again, and soon became a regular attendant at the 



REMOVAL TO TENG CHOW, SHANTUNG PROVINCE. 141 

Sunday services. She learned rapidly. The Holy 
Spirit seemed to work in her heart and in a few 
months she became a happy convert. Some months 
before Mrs. Holmes' departure she had been baptized 
and moved to the city. She ceased begging and with 
a capital of a few dollars became a peddler. As the 
native ladies of Teng Chow do not go shopping, such 
articles as they need are brought to their homes by 
the women peddlers. Mrs. Leo supported herself in 
this business by her mornings' work, and when Mrs. 
Holmes had gone, spent the afternoons in visiting 
with Mrs. Crawford from house to house. While ply- 
ing her trade she also took the gospel to the women, 
and learned where Mrs. Crawford's visits would be 
acceptable. For several years Mrs. Leo was her con- 
stant companion in these labors, and found many 
homes that would otherwise have been closed to her. 
The wife of the Che Fu, the highest mandarin in the 
city, sent a messenger saying that she had heard of 
Mrs. Crawford going from house to house teaching 
the women something good, and would she not visit 
her also? On going at the appointed time Mrs. Craw- 
ford found a large assemblage of the friends of the 
mandarin's wife collected to hear the word, and she 
spent several hours talking to these earnest listeners. 
Mrs. Leo had accompanied her and was in another 
room telling the gospel to the female attendants of 
these ladies. 

Mr. Hartwell during his first two years' residence 
in Teng Chow had gathered a church of fifteen mem- 



142 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

bers, and Mr. Crawford in the twenty months of his 
pastorate baptized eight others. 

The Crawfords' country work was begun and car- 
ried on under many difficulties. The people still filled 
with suspicion often refused to give them lodging even 
at the inns. Mr. Crawford looking about over the field 
selected a number of market towns, among them 
Hwong Ching, sixteen miles to the south, and Buh Go, 
twelve miles to the west of the city. He had become 
acquainted with an influential man, Sun Chang Lung, 
living near Hwong Ching. Sun was a school teacher 
of his own village and Whei To, or head man, of this 
and eight other villages. The temple owned by these 
nine villages, situated at Ma Kia, was under his con- 
trol. He rented out its lands, disbursed its funds, ap- 
pointed its priest, and superintended its affairs gener- 
ally. At the time of Mr. Crawford's first acquaintance 
with him there was no priest at the temple and he him- 
self was having a row of rooms put up on the ground 
at the rear. He became interested in the gospel. 
Proud, tyrannical, bigotted and exacting as he was, 
there was something in the gospel attractive to him. 
He placed the new rooms in the temple court at Mr. 
Crawford's disposal for a chapel, and rejected all ap- 
plications from priests for settlement there. When 
the missionaries visited the neighborhood, a small 
room served for a sleeping apartment and a larger one 
for a chapel. Thus this became an out-station which 
they visited about once a month for several years, and 
less frequently for a longer period. And as they found 



REMOVAL TO TENG CHOW, SHANTUNG PROVINCE. 143 

openings they made tours to the surrounding towns 
and villages. 

On Mr. Hartwell's return from Shanghai in De- 
cember, 1865, the question came up for final decision 
as to whether Mr. Crawford would settle permanently 
in Teng Chow or return to his former home and 
labors. The work at Shanghai was very dear to their 
hearts and they longed to renew it, but there they 
would probably live out only half their days and that 
in much weakness ; while in Shantung's invigorating 
climate, where life would be a pleasure rather than a 
burden, they might prosecute equally important labors 
for the Master. They decided to remain if possible, 
but the difficulty in doing so lay in securing a house in 
a good position for work. This must be done in spite 
of the council which had decided that no citizen should 
rent or sell another house to foreigners on pain of end- 
less persecution. As the influence of the gentry was 
great Mr. Crawford's hope of success was not san- 
guine. The two strolled about the city in their after- 
noon walks apparently without looking to the right or 
left, and finally chose Monument Street as the most 
desirable for a residence, not knowing whether there 
was a single house on it for rent or sale. Mr. Craw- 
ford, however, pointed out the selected street to his 
native teacher, Chow Ting Ching, who was a stranger 
to the people of the city, and committed the matter to 
him. Chow found a medium sized house for sale on 
the north side of the street and brought Mr. Crawford 
a description of its dimensions and structure. As the 
price was reasonable he was instructed to purchase it 



144 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

at once in his own name, promising to rent it to Mr. 
Crawford who would, of course, supply the purchase 
money. Notwithstanding treaty rights this seemed 
the only way of obtaining a house in Teng Chow. 
Conditions were especially hard on them at this time 
as the Board was still, on account of impoverishment 
by the late war, unable to pay the salaries of the mis- 
sionaries, much less to purchase houses for them. Mr. 
Crawford's income at Shanghai was greatly reduced, 
yet from it they must purchase a dwelling and wait 
indefinitely for the Board to refund the money. 

The teacher in this purchase was successful beyond 
expectation and the bargain was soon completed. In 
consideration of a small extra sum possession was to 
be given at the end of one month instead of four as 
custom allowed. They dared not look at the house 
until the expiration of the month, no one yet knowing 
that the real purchaser was a foreigner. On the speci- 
fied day the teacher reported it vacant. This was Sat- 
urday, and in their eagerness Mr. and Mrs. Crawford 
went to see it at once, finding the former owner's fam- 
ily still occupying it. Their untimely visit revealed to 
the owners and neighbors the state of the case, and by 
Monday placards were posted in every direction call- 
ing on the people to rise en masse and prevent the 
"foreign devils" from occupying the house. The ex- 
citement became so intense that it was thought best to 
inform the city magistrate. After a long, unsatis- 
factory interview with him a messenger was dis- 
patched with a letter to Mr. Sanford, then United 
States consul at Chefoo, explaining the situation. He 



REMOVAL TO TENG CHOW, SHANTUNG PROVINCE. 145 

came to Teng Chow at once and communicated with 
the chief officials, informing them that Mr. Crawford 
with his (the consul's) sanction and presence would 
take possession at noon next day. He asked protection 
against any riot that might arise in consequence. The 
official sent no reply to his communication, and early 
the following afternoon the consul accompanied by 
Messrs. Crawford, Hartwell and Mills, the native 
teacher and servant, entered the house, posted a notice 
under a United States official seal and raised an Amer- 
ican flag at the door. The gentry were then in council 
at a neighboring temple, and gongs of alarm soon be- 
gan to sound in various parts of the city. The women 
of the house set up a frightful wail, and a crowd rap- 
idly collected in front of the door and along the street. 
The excitement seemed increasing and the danger 
most threatening. Mr. Crawford's own language best 
gives the remainder of the story : "The gentry then in 
council sent a man to beat a gong in front of the 
house. When Mr. Hartwell and I went out to inquire 
why he was beating the gong he replied, T do so by 
order of the council/ and immediately about twenty of 
their men rushed upon us seizing each of us by the 
arm. Jerking ourselves loose we drew our revolvers 
and the crowd fell back somewhat, and we regained 
the door where we kept them at bay for an hour or 
two. The assembled gazers knowing of our revolvers 
kept at a safe distance. At length my servant was sent 
with a consul's card to inform the chief official of our 
situation and to ask his assistance, and about sunset a 
number of subordinates arrived on the scene and 



146 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

seemed to take control of matters by general consent. 
Immediate danger subsided. After some parleying 
with them, Mr. Hartwell accompanied one of them to 
the chief official, where a little before midnight the Che 
Fu agreed that if we would leave matters in his hands 
and retire to our homes he would give us peaceable 
possession in ten days. Keeping his word the house 
was delivered the eighth day and I soon began repairs 
without molestation. 

''Houses after this could be obtained without special 
difficulty, but the gentry were far from reconciled to 
our presence. For years they did all they could to 
ostracize us and prejudice people against us. I do not 
tell this story with self complacency, but some parts of 
it with deep regret. It is my decided opinion on re- 
viewing the whole case that we could now manage the 
matter in a very different manner and spirit, and leave 
much more favorable impressions on the minds of the 
people. The days of foreigners carrying out their pur- 
poses in China by force and threats are now, thank 
God, rapidly passing away. Our aims are more in ac- 
cord with the spirit of Christ than with the spirit of the 
military age. Kindness, forbearance and patience are 
the virtues needed in the prosecution of missionary 
work at all times and at all places, and especially in 
the opening of new stations among an ignorant, sus- 
picious and self-conceited people like the Chinese. 
Pistols are out of place in dealing with them. ,, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BEGINNING OF THE MONUMENT STREET CHURCH. 

Soon after their removal to their new home on 
Monument Street, July, 1866, Mr. Crawford baptized 
Mrs. Leo, mentioned in the preceding chapter, in a 
clear pond outside of the west water gate of the city. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Crawford who had followed her 
struggles through repentance and faith in Christ, her 
conversion was a source of great joy. About the same 
time Wong Wha Yuen, a deacon of the Presbyterian 
Church, who for years had been troubled regarding 
the mode of baptism joined them. In December of 
1866, the Monument Street Church was organized 
with eight members. These were Mr. and Mrs. Craw- 
ford, Mrs. Holmes, Mr. and Mrs. DeGrew who had 
removed from Shanghai to Chefoo, Mrs. Leo, Mr. 
Wong Wha Yuen and Mr. Chow, Mrs. Holmes and 
Mr. Chow bringing letters of dismission from the 
North Street Church. The next summer Sun Chang 
Lung, whose village and neighborhood they had often 
visited, and who had placed the temple at Ma Kia at 
Mr. Crawford's service, was also baptized. 

They had long been looking wistfully over the vil- 
lages that dotted the plains and valleys around Teng 
Chow, but the villagers were more afraid of them than 
the city people. Constant association with them had 
shown the city people that foreigners were not danger- 
ous, but the rural population heard no contradiction of 



148 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

the evil reports sedulously circulated about them. 
(For mutual protection and convenience the country 
people all live in villages under their own local govern- 
ment.) Through acquaintance they gained access to a 
few neighborhoods, though they were shut out by 
prejudice and suspicion from many more, but later 
regular and systematic country work was thrown open 
in an unexpected way. 

In the summer of 1867, the whole eastern part of 
the province was devastated by a horde of robbers 
from the southwest, who had been driven forth by 
famine in their own region to prey upon their more 
fortunate countrymen. When no resistance was of- 
fered to their seizing whatever came to hand they 
would help themselves without bloodshed, but the peo- 
ple were not always ready to yield their means of sub- 
sistence without a struggle, and often collected in 
bands to oppose the robbers. This so infuriated the 
robbers that they spared neither age nor sex in such 
neighborhoods. The people generally fled for protec- 
tion to the walled cities or mountain tops. Many 
women who had failed to get away from home in time, 
on the approach of the robbers threw their children 
into wells or ponds and jumped in after them. Others 
hanged themselves upon the timbers of their dwellings. 
The reader should bear in mind that suicide is fright- 
fully common in China. Great numbers of refugees 
fled to the city of Teng Chow where most of them re- 
mained about two months. The sick and wounded 
came to the missionaries for medical help, and many 
others having nothing to do came about them to see 



BEGINNING OF THE MONUMENT STREET CHURCH. 149 

the foreigners and hear them talk, and from dawn 
until dark their house was so thronged that they had 
to regulate the hours of admittance. At nine o'clock 
Mr. Crawford opened his front chapel door and talked 
to a full house until noon, and from three until six 
o'clock in the afternoons he labored in the same way. 
For the women Mrs. Crawford used two rooms open- 
ing into each other, and removing all the furniture she 
seated the visitors on the matted floor. Soon after 
opening their street door in the morning these rooms 
would be crowded with women and children, to whom 
she presented the gospel for half an hour. Then after 
administering some simple remedies to the ailing she 
requested them to give place to others who were wait- 
ing on the street. In a little while the room was filled 
by newcomers with whom she proceeded in like man- 
ner. Thus daily they labored during these two 
months, forming acquaintances with numbers of indi- 
viduals. Mr. Crawford also in connection with his 
preaching, relieved as far as he could such men as had 
been wounded by the robbers. They learned during 
these disturbances the names of many persons, some 
of whom invited them to visit their homes and villages. 
The people found at this time that the foreigners were 
in reality their true friends, and not the monsters they 
had supposed them to be. 

After the restoration of peace Mr. and Mrs. Craw- 
ford began their circuits among the villages — cau- 
tiously at first, for they were not certain to what extent 
public opinion was in their favor. By degrees the 
work was extended. On reaching a village, often rid- 



150 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

ing on donkeys, they usually sought one of the public 
wells where they dismounted and took seats on the 
well stone or sought a harvest floor. Curiosity or an 
errand for water soon brought some person to the well, 
and as the men were usually busy in the fields the first 
to come was almost sure to be a woman. This at- 
tracted others and thus were their congregations often 
gathered. If men came Mr. Crawford would take 
them to a separate spot and preach to them. Mrs. 
Crawford did not accompany her husband on the 
longer tours, nor to the market towns where the 
women would not show themselves. He ofttimes with 
his teacher or some native brother spent weeks in 
going from place to place, making his headquarters at 
some central town where he could deposit his bedding 
in an inn and there spend the nights. After Mrs. 
Holmes returned from the United States in 1869, she 
and Mrs. Crawford frequently labored together, and 
later one or the other of them would join Miss Moon 
who arrived in 1874. They spent much of the pleasant 
weather of each spring and autumn in this way. 

At the smaller villages in busy seasons half an 
hour's talk was often long enough. The people would 
then begin to feel they must return to their work, but 
in leisure seasons, when many were coming and going, 
hours might be profitably spent at one place. For 
years the people did not seem to understand their ob- 
jects in these visits, but with frequent explanations they 
came to know that their only purpose was to proclaim 
the "heavenly doctrine. ,, Now and then one would 
have the temerity to invite them into a house, and they 



BEGINNING OF THE MONUMENT STREET CHURCH. 151 

found that accepting such invitations brought them 
into better relations with the people, though talking 
out under the trees was more pleasant. 

Mrs. Crawford writes : "We can recall many in- 
stances of kind consideration extended to us on these 
tours. Once when Mrs. Holmes and I were almost 
exhausted from heat and labor, a man suddenly pre- 
sented himself before us bearing a tray of smoking tea. 
'I knew you must need something to drink/ he said. 
Sometimes a loving old woman would take us by the 
hand and say, 'come in and rest, this is hard work 
you are doing for us.' At one time a lady of wealth 
sent an invitation for us to come to her house for rest 
and refreshments which we accepted, and we found 
her unusually intelligent and interesting. 'I have 
great respect/ she said, 'for those who are spending 
their lives teaching others to be good. You are like 
our own sage, Confucius, who went in his cart from 
village to village exhorting the people to morality/ 
Sometimes malicious persons would excite public 
sentiment against us, and in such places we found it 
useless to attempt religious work. Again venerable 
old men with flowing white beard would approach and 
thank us warmly for teaching their people such good 
things. The Chinese are not all alike." 

Their methods of presenting the gospel would vary 
according to circumstances, but they always told of 
salvation through Christ. The objects around them 
often afforded an introduction. Pointing to the sun 
they would say, "Do you know who holds the sun in 
the heavens and so guides it that it unfailingly rises 



152 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

and sets day after day throughout the ages?" Or 
"Look at the growing crops. Who sends rain to make 
them grow, and who gives food to yourselves and 
children ? You know it is the Heavenly Father. Have 
you ever once in all your life rendered thanks to Him 
for all His kindness, or ever inquired into His word 
that you may obey Him?" Sometimes a mother 
would speak of her dead child. They would ask, "Do 
you know your child will live again?" Then the res- 
urrection would be explained. If some one should be 
in distress, a Saviour who can take away all sorrow 
would be presented. But generally they told them in 
the beginning that they had a message of love and 
mercy and of offered salvation from the Heavenly 
Father through Jesus Christ His Son. 

In visiting the villages near the city, they could 
return home after a day's work and have a comfortable 
night's rest, starting out fresh the next morning. But 
for distant places they were absent from home for 
days or weeks, lodging in Chinese inns. Sleeping on 
brick beds in close, damp, stuffy rooms was not con- 
ducive to health, and they often arose in the morning 
feeling only a little less weary than when they lay 
down at night. The villages on an average were about 
a mile apart, and the voice was rested in going from 
one to another. From four to seven villages made a 
good day's work, leaving strength for two or three 
hours' talk at night; but when their road took them 
by eight or ten villages (and they could not consent to 
pass any without a few gospel words), they were 
ready for bed at an early hour. 



BEGINNING OF THE MONUMENT STREET CHURCH. 153 

On the arrival of Mr. Crawford at Teng Chow in 
1863, Mrs. Holmes was superintending a small day- 
school for boys, the teacher of which was paid by the 
native church, Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell and Mrs. 
Holmes. Before long the arrangements became unsat- 
isfactory and the church ceased to pay its part, where- 
upon Mrs. Holmes took upon herself its expenses from 
private funds. She thus continued it until her depar- 
ture for the United States in 1867, when she left it in 
Mrs. Crawford's hands with fifty dollars for its 
support. 

Before this time the Board had constituted Messrs. 
Hartwell and Crawford, at their united request, into 
separate missions, and Mrs. Holmes' house being near 
to Mr. Hartwell, it was changed after her departure 
into a chapel for the North Street Church. The school 
was removed to a rented room near Mr. Crawford's 
house, and gradually developed into a boarding school. 

Mr. Crawford's Monument Street house consisted of 
a number of small rooms arranged in four successive 
rows, each row being separated from the next by a 
court yard. The first row presented to the street a 
dead wall pierced only by the front entrance and the 
door into Mr. Crawford's study. There had been a 
beautiful apple tree in the front court, but not being 
mentioned in the title deed the retiring owner, accord- 
ing to Chinese custom, cut it down and sold the wood. 
Little Landrum Holmes, hearing the missionaries ex- 
pressing much regret at the loss of the tree, said to his 
mother, "Never mind mother, we can stick it on again 
with Spaulding's Prepared Glue," strongly suggestive 



154 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

of the many times his accidents had been repaired by 
that famous preparation. 

During his whole missionary life it was Mr. Craw- 
ford's aim to make himself accessible to the people of 
all classes, that he might present to them the "words of 
life/' and "by all means -save some." During his thirty 
years at Teng Chow he was able to make especially 
favorable arrangements for this purpose. The room 
where he sat to study, read and write had a door open- 
ing into the street, and the people soon learned that 
they were always welcome to come in and sit down and 
have a talk. It was in this room in the intervals be- 
tween callers, that he wrote his Patriarchal Dynas- 
ties, part of his Reign of Man, his Churches, To 
the Front ! his pamphlets, What Caused the Sud- 
dean Death of Christ? How Long was Christ in 
the Tomb? and a number of English hymns. It 
was also here with his native teacher that he wrote 
his Mandarin Grammar, General Catechism, an An- 
cient History, and composed, translated and com- 
piled his hymn book in Mandarin, besides much 
other literary work in both languages which 
has not been preserved. It was in this room 
also that he received during the Chinese government 
examinations multitudes of the literati who came to 
ask questions regarding the "foreign country," As- 
tronomy, Physics and other subjects of interest to 
them. Besides the information they sought they were 
always sure to hear the truths of salvation through 
Christ. 



BEGINNING OF THE MONUMENT STREET CHURCH. 155 

The houses in Teng Chow and generally in North 
China are of one story. The courts of Mr. Crawford's 
home were small and enclosed by walls and other 
houses reaching to the eaves. As some of their 
yards were paved with stone the summer heat was 
almost intolerable. At all seasons their vision was 
confined to these small courts and a little stretch 
of sky above them. Their isolated position, the trials 
of the work in the midst of a hostile people, with other 
difficulties too numerous to mention in detail, tried 
their souls to the utmost. 

Two years later they bought the adjoining house 
on the east and pulled down the intervening walls, 
thus enlarging the courts and securing rooms for 
the school and other prospective work. They planted 
a number of trees, and as these grew up, casting a 
refreshing shade around, the material comfort of the 
inmates was greatly increased. For many years of 
their later life there the contrast in summer on step- 
ping from the scorched street into the shadow of the 
locust, mimosa and elm trees, with flowers of various 
kinds beneath them and Virginia creepers covering the 
walls, was greatly refreshing. Though in itself un- 
pretending, the place became to them a dear and lovely 
home, where they expected to spend the remainder 
of their earthly days in the service of the Master. 
But for them God had other plans. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 

Among those who sought refuge in Teng Chow 
during the robber raid of 1867, were a large number 
of persons from the Mung family village twelve miles 
distant. Some of these found lodging near Mrs. Leo 
who told them of the great salvation. The heart of 
Mung Ki Hwa being touched by the story, Mrs. Leo 
led him to see Mr. Crawford. Having nothing else 
to do he came day after day, drinking in the gospel 
and asking questions, and in the intervals diligently 
studying the Bible. He belonged to the great family 
of Mencius (Mung Tse) and inherited many of that 
philosopher's sterling qualities. On the departure of 
the robbers he returned to his home, but walked back 
to the city on Sunday mornings to join in the relig- 
ious services, and was erelong converted and bap- 
tized. He instructed his wife, son and single daugh- 
ter as much as possible. His second son was then 
absent in Manchuria, and being a man of considerable 
energy and contributing largely to the support of the 
family, he thereby secured their deference in propor- 
tion. Hearing that his father had joined the "for- 
eign religion/' he hastened home to set matters 
straight. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford were at his fa- 
ther's house when the young man arrived. On enter- 
ing he saluted his parents and immediately walked 
out by the opposite door. The mother evidently knew 



PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 157 

the object of his visit, and seemed much disturbed. 
Though the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford was 
very embarrassing, it was too late for them to return 
to the city that afternoon, so they made the best they 
could of the situation, urging Mr. Mung to be gentle, 
but to hold firmly to his profession. The next day, 
after the Crawford's departure, the son returned, ac- 
companied by a maternal uncle and other relatives 
for whom his father entertained the highest respect, 
and they began operations. The old men urged that 
this was a foreign religion wholly unknown to the 
Chinese and everywhere spoken against, and that his 
embracing it was a very great disrespect to the mem- 
ory of their venerated ancestor. Mung replied that 
Mencius was a seeker after the good and true, and 
would no doubt have accepted the religion of Jesus 
had it been presented to him, for it was preeminently 
good and true. 

"So it may be," they answered. "You may accept 
it privately, but you must not openly follow it to the 
disgrace of yourself and family in the eyes of your 
neighbors. Take your book back to the teacher Craw- 
ford and ask him to dismiss you from the church." 

"No," said Mung, "Pastor Crawford gives the Bi- 
ble, but he does not take it back ; receives men into the 
church, but does not thrust them out. Moreover, I 
myself will hold on to both." 

The men persisted, getting on their knees, which 
was a rare condescension on their part, and had great 
weight with him. The son wept and pleaded. The 
two married daughters were sent for to add their in- 



158 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

fluence and one of them joined her brother in plead- 
ing, but the other said, "Let father alone. He has 
embraced a religion which I know to be good, and I 
should like to be a Christian myself/' 

All other resources having been exhausted the son 
now went into convulsions, the last resort of a Chi- 
nese before suicide. He wrought himself into such a 
passion that he fell to the ground foaming at the 
mouth, with hands clenched and the whole body 
rigid. The mother crying out that the son was dying, 
flew at her husband saying, "You must recant/' The 
excitement became intense. The visitors stood around 
making frequent suggestions first to one party and 
then to the other. Mung's obstinancy puzzled them, for 
it is always understood that when a position is so of- 
fensive as to create a general uproar it must be yield- 
ed. Missionaries are often blamed by the Chinese for 
refusing to yield just a little of right and justice for 
the sake of peace. Mung had been accustomed all 
his life to the compromising method. His son was 
now lying on the floor apparently dying, his daughters 
were wailing, his wife vehemently pressing him, his 
venerable relatives beseeching, and his neighbors re- 
monstrating. So he yielded. Yes, he would leave the 
church and drop the whole matter. 

Soon everything became quiet. The son arose from 
the ground in health. Relatives and friends returned 
complacently to their homes. 

Next day when the old man was out at work, the 
son proposed to burn his books, still fearing the prom- 



PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 159 

ise might have been given without the intention of 
fulfilling it. 

"No," said the mother, "I dare not allow that. Your 
father is a lamb when unprovoked, but a tiger when 
his anger is aroused." 

On the following Sabbath, Mr. Mung, instead of 
going out to work, took down his Bible and began to 
read. The son, looking at his mother, said, "I told 
you so ! I told you he did not mean to keep his 
promise !" 

"No," slowly and firmly replied the old man. "No. 
Once having obtained eternal life, do you think I 
will throw it away? Never!" 

So though he held staunchly to his religion, yet he 
had no prickings of conscience for the falsehood he 
had told. "To be sure," said he, "it was, strictly 
speaking, not right to lie about it, but under such cir- 
cumstances who could adhere closely to the right?" 

Temporizing, compromising, trimming, avoiding dif- 
ficulties, are essential to the Chinese code, hence the 
training of the conscience of one of these people is a 
slow process. Enunciating the right is to his mind 
the same as performing it, or at least that is as much 
as can be expected. 

This same faithful Mung, when his widowed daugh- 
ter begged him to facilitate her learning the way of 
salvation, replied, "No, it is enough for me to bear 
the burden of being a Christian myself. You belong 
to your father-in-law, not to me, and I cannot take 
the responsibility for such a step on your part." 
Through instruction and Christian growth, however, 



160 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

he learned to view the matter differently, and his 
daughter erelong became a Christian. 

For nearly twenty years he and his wife were 
among the best of native Christians, letting their light 
shine and leading others into the heavenly road. His 
widowed daughter preceded him to the better land, 
and he himself died in a good old age rejoicing in the 
hope of eternal life. The only surviving daughter 
was baptized shortly after his death. Such Christians 
are a great joy to the missionaries, and their con- 
stant prayers are that many more may be speedily 
gathered into the churches in China ! 

Mr. Crawford baptized a number of others in the 
year of Mr. Mung's conversion, and the Monument 
Street Church reached a membership of about twenty- 
five persons. About the same time there was also an 
awakening in connection with Mr. Hartwell's labors. 
Tsang Yuen Teh had heard the gospel at Hwang 
Hien, and with soul on fire had taken it to his home 
at Shang Tswang. On the approach of the robbers 
in 1867, he led his family and relatives to a mountain 
top for safety. There all kneeling down he prayed 
the Heavenly Father for protection. Not a hair of 
their heads was injured, while a party of their neigh- 
bors who had refused to go with them were massa- 
cred. These experiences impressed them profoundly 
and prepared many of them to accept Tsang's teach- 
ing. In the early spring he and several of his broth- 
ers, with their wives and aged mother, proceeded to 
Mr. Hartwell's home in Teng Chow where they re- 
mained some weeks under his religious teaching. Dur- 



PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 161 

ing the year Mr. Hartwell baptized twenty-two per- 
sons. 

A year or two later the Monument Street Church 
rented rooms at the Mung village to serve as a chapel, 
while eight of the brethren volunteered to go in turn, 
two and two, and preach to the people there, the 
church defraying their expenses. A goodly number 
attended the services, and things seemed to prosper 
for some time. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford also went 
out occasionally, laboring at that and the adjacent 
villages. After a while opposition arose, and the 
village elders forbade any one entering the chapel on 
pain of a fine. This put an end to the congregation, 
and the rooms were returned to the owner, as it was 
thought best to suspend the work there for some years. 

In 1870 the political and social atmosphere all over 
China became filled with animosity toward foreigners, 
and the most outrageous vices were attributed to them. 
A vile book issued by some one in Hunan and scat- 
tered throughout the empire, called The Death Blow 
to Corrupt Doctrines, fired the public mind by gath- 
ering up all the old scandalous rumors, adding more to 
them, and advising the extermination of the hated 
race. Some of these accusations were couched in 
such obscene language that the translators of the book 
omitted certain portions for the sake of decency. Re- 
ports flew about that all foreigners were to be killed 
or driven out of the country. Such tales had gained 
currency so often that the missionaries were not in- 
clined to give heed to them until at last they culmi- 
nated, June 21, 1870, in the Tientsin massacre, a 



162 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

tragedy that horrified the civilized world. Innocent 
foreign men, women and children were suddenly 
seized, tortured and slain in a most horrible man- 
ner. The Roman Catholic Orphanage, Cathedral, and 
other buildings at Tientsin were burned to the ground, 
the native officials not lifting a hand for the protec- 
tion of life or property. The sufferers were mostly 
French, but the Chinese masses did not distinguish 
between nationalities. News of the atrocity, even 
some of the details, reached the Crawford's at Teng 
Chow before the deed was actually perpetrated, show- 
ing conclusively that the plans were well matured 
and widely known. The position of all foreigners 
now became critical. The gentry of Teng Chow held 
meetings to discuss the situation. And a proposition 
was made to send a committee for the purpose of 
examining the cellar of Dr. Mateer of the Presbyte- 
rian mission to see if the eyes and hearts of murdered 
Chinese women and children were secreted) there. 
However, one of their number who had been a fre- 
quent visitor at the missionaries' houses, and who had 
seen this cellar in the process of construction and 
knew its design, dissuaded them from their purpose. 
The servants of both the Baptist and Presbyterian 
missions became alarmed and some of them fled to 
their homes. Spies came prowling around the mis- 
sion houses, asking to see their internal arrangements, 
and it was thought best to allow them to do so. The 
stories increased in number and intensity, as they flew 
from mouth to mouth, the people scowled upon the 
missionaries as they walked the streets, and old ac- 



PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 163 

quaintances feared to let them enter their homes. 
Finally, the missionaries requested the magistrate to 
issue a proclamation denying the reports, so as to 
quiet the people ; but when he declined to do this, say- 
ing there was no danger, they decided in consultation 
to retire to Chefoo until there should be a change in 
the public mind. As it would have been difficult for 
so many to secure native conveyance at once, and as 
they feared being attacked on the way, they dis- 
patched a messenger to the United States consul, S. 
A. Holmes, Esq., of Chefoo, asking for a gunboat to 
transport them to that place. Chefoo had also passed 
through a panic, many of the women fleeing on ship- 
board for safety while the men stood guard in the 
streets of the settlement. There being no American 
vessel of war in the port at the time, the British ad- 
miral generously sent up one which took them all 
to Chefoo, except Mr. Crawford and Mr. Mateer, 
who remained behind to arrange for the security of 
their mission dwellings. Having placed the keys in 
the hands of the magistrate they followed a few days 
later by land. 

The sudden departure of the missionaries on a man- 
of-war broke the spell and the people looked at each 
other in dumb astonishment. The officials awoke to 
the fact that grave responsibilities rested on them, and 
when nearly two months later the missionaries re- 
turned in a United States war vessel, the Prefect 
promised to give them ample protection, requesting 
the gentlemen of the mission to go directly to him 
should there be any disturbance. This pledge has 



164 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

been faithfully kept by the successive incumbents 
of the office ever since. 

A number of persons were baptized soon after their 
return from Chefoo, those professing Christianity be- 
ing nothing daunted by the dangers that seemed to 
threaten. Mrs. Hartwell "fell on sleep" a few days 
before the Tientsin massacre, and so mercifully es- 
caped its attendant troubles. 

From the beginning of their residence in Teng 
Chow Mr. Crawford noticed the prevalence of an im- 
pression in the public mind regarding the mission- 
aries which he had never observed at Shanghai. The 
people looked upon them as possessing a kind of 
political power that would give them a mighty in- 
fluence with the mandarins, or native officials, and in 
consequence of this belief the people constantly sought 
the aid of the missionaries in lawsuits. This impres- 
sion may have arisen from the conditions under which 
the missionaries settled among them just at the end 
of the war between China and the English-French 
alliance. By this war the Chinese supposed them- 
selves subjugated, and thought that foreigners com- 
ing as conquerors would be able to have everything 
their own way. The missionaries could largely have 
corrected these erroneous opinions had not their native 
employees helped to keep them alive. Many years 
afterward they learned one reason why, in the Teng 
Chow region, their reiterated assertions that they had 
no official power were unheeded, and why the popular 
belief in this supposed power only increased. A man 
named Tso, who came from Shanghai as a mission- 



PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 165 

ary's native assistant, had spent much of his life in 
the office of his mandarin brother, and was conse- 
quently conversant with the various ins and outs of 
that most corrupt of all places. Taking advantage 
of the prevailing impression, Tso gave it out that he 
was interpreter and general manager for the foreign- 
ers at Teng Chow and could induce them to do what- 
ever he chose. People soon began to go to him with 
their lawsuits, begging him to intercede with the 
foreigners, who, in turn, should bring their prestige to 
bear upon the mandarins in behalf of his clients. As 
a rule the man who had the money (for it was the 
money that Tso coveted in his nefarious schemes) 
was the man who secured his help. He gained a num- 
ber of suits and was handsomely rewarded. 

On a certain occasion, by false representations, he 
induced a missionary to accompany him to the office 
of the city magistrate and intercede for an oppressor 
who thereby gained his case. The mandarins them- 
selves seemed to stand in some indefinable dread of 
offending the foreigners, the feeling being secretly 
fostered by Mr. Tso. But "murder will out," and in 
process of time he was dismissed from employment 
and excluded from the church for other transgres- 
sions. Years elapsed before much of his lawsuit ini- 
quities came to light. It required long and patient 
effort, after his career at Teng Chow was ended, to 
even measurably counteract the evil. Nay, even in 
1893 some of the native Christians claimed that mis- 
sionaries should manage their lawsuits and aid in the 
collection of their bad debts. This idea prevails in 



166 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

most parts of China even yet, and is privately fostered 
by men like Mr. Tso. What a strong hold this thought 
had on the community and how it was sometimes 
used, let two instances illustrate. 

A bachelor named Tsei, living in a village twenty 
miles from Teng Chow, and professing deep interest 
in the gospel, came to Mrs. Crawford repeatedly for 
religious instruction. He occasionally attended the 
Sunday services at Sun Kia, and several of the breth- 
ren from that village visited him. He groaned over 
his sins, studied the Bible, and seemed diligent in 
prayer, but somehow he failed to secure their con- 
fidence and his repeated applications for baptism were 
deferred. Finally becoming impatient he went to 
Chefoo and applied for baptism to Dr. W. of the 
Scotch Presbyterian mission. Dr. W., learning that 
Tsei had been under Mr. Crawford's instruction, 
wrote to know if there were sufficient reasons for 
refusing baptism to such an earnest inquirer. Mr. 
Crawford in reply gave some suspicions of the man's 
sincerity. Later Dr. W. wrote again, saying that 
Tsei had quite gained his confidence, that Mr. Craw- 
ford's suspicions must be groundless, and that he felt 
it his duty to baptize him. Mr. Crawford replied that 
it was a matter Dr. W. must decide for himself, but 
suggested that it might be well to give Mr. Tsei no 
material benefit for his profession of Christianity. Dr. 
W. received him and all went on smoothly. But after 
a while Tsei took his cousin's wife. This had been his 
object from the first. His outraged fellow villagers, 
notwithstanding his having joined the "foreigners' 



PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 167 

church/' gave him a terrible beating and returned 
the woman to her husband. Now came his opportu- 
nity to use the foreigner. He accordingly brought 
his case of suffering "for Christ's sake" before Dr. 
W., and desired him to have his persecutors severely 
punished. Dr. W. by some means (it is often very 
difficult to get at the truth in such a case) found out 
the real state of affairs and refused aid, and sharply 
rebuked Tsei for his wickedness. With this his Chris- 
tianity ceased and we heard no more of him. 

Second, Brother Kwo, an earnest Christian and a 
member of Monument Street Church, consulted Mr. 
Crawford in regard to lending a considerable amount 
of his hard-earned money to his neighbor, Mr. Li, 
for the purpose of setting up some business. Mr. Li 
was to do the work and the two were to share the 
profits equally. Mr. Crawford advised against the 
partnership, reminding Mr. Kwo that Mr. Li was bor- 
rowing in every direction, and, as was well known, 
never paid his debts. But Mr. Li's fair promises 
gained the day, and as was anticipated Kwo could 
recover neither profits nor capital. Then Mr. 
Kwo came to Mr. Crawford, his pastor, and urged 
that he make Li return his money. Mr. Crawford 
told him that he feared his efforts in that direction 
would be in vain. Mr. Kwo replied that Mr. Crawford 
should take the matter to the mandarin, which he 
declined to do, but insisted that collecting debts was 
no part of his ministerial duty. Whereupon Mr. Kwo 
went about among the brethren complaining of Mr. 
Crawford for his neglect of pastoral obligations. The 



168 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

native pastor of the other church was very much exer- 
cised upon the subject and told Kwo to try Mr. 
Crawford again. "If he again refuses to take up the 
case," he continued, warmly, "come to me and I will 
do what I can for you, though you are not a member 
of my church." Mr. Kwo died, however, without 
collecting the debt, and the father and brother com- 
plained bitterly against Mr. Crawford because he 
refused to take up the matter. 

These views of the missionaries' relations to the 
native Christians so filled the atmosphere around them 
that it required the utmost firmness and vigilance on 
Mr. Crawford's part to maintain his proper place as 
a religious teacher. His course, though disappoint- 
ing their false expectations, was the only true and 
wholesome one. Some missionaries, unfortunately 
yielding to the pressure, fell into the snare to the 
unspeakable injury of the cause of Christianity in 
China. As the years go on, however, there is less 
and less of this interference in lawsuits by mission- 
aries of all denominations and fewer requests for it. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THIS AND THAT. 

Several persons who joined Monument Street 
Church in its early days expected to be employed by 
Mr. Crawford in some religious or secular capacity, 
and to them it mattered not which, so erroneous was 
their conception of Christianity. And it must be con- 
fessed that much of what they saw around them tended 
rather to foster than to correct this erroneous impres- 
sion. They thought that if the missionary needed a 
cook, carpenter, mason, watchman or house servant, 
he should employ his Christian brethren, even though 
they were ever so unfit for the position. Missionaries 
would rather take a Christian, even though he were 
less expert, but for the fact that this employment idea 
would fill the church with place seekers and so cor- 
rupt the very fountains which should be kept pure. 
Mr. Crawford constantly advocated a clear distinction 
between religious and secular matters, but with little 
response for many years. He also laid great stress 
on a native-supported ministry. This he advocated 
both by word and example. In his annual report to 
the Board for 1871 he wrote, "I have a class study- 
ing for the ministry. They come once in three 
months, remaining as my guests for a week or ten 
days, studying the Scriptures, and then return home 
to prepare the lessons I give them. Thus they are to 
go on studying and preaching, without money, sup- 



170 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

ported by their farm labor until they are ready to be 
ordained and supported as pastors by churches they 
themselves are to establish. Such, at least, is the 
theory of the plan." 

In the United States in early life, Mr. Crawford 
had known a great many godly ministers who sup- 
ported themselves on their farms and preached the 
word on Sundays and leisure times, doing a great 
work for the Lord without money and without price. 

This class was continued for some years, increas- 
ing to nine or ten. At these times other native Chris- 
tians or inquirers would come to receive instruction 
adapted to them. Mrs. Crawford usually took charge 
of the inquirers, teaching them also to sing Christian 
hymns. At times one and another of this class would 
accompany Mrs. Crawford or some of the ladies of the 
mission on itinerating tours, the missionaries defray- 
ing the expenses of the trip. Occasionally two of 
these brethren were sent out by the church to preach 
for a specified time. 

In process of time the class began to realize the fact 
that Mr. Crawford really intended to pursue a dif- 
ferent course from the prevailing one, that he did not 
mean to employ with foreign money any preachers or 
other religious workers. And then the zeal of many 
began to wane. One of the members died witnessing 
a good confession ; another kept on preaching the gos- 
pel to his fellow countrymen when opportunity 
offered, and at the same time supported himself at 
his own business. One of the most zealous of them 
was excluded from the church for ancestral worship 



THIS AND THAT. 171 

and other sins, another for deception, while still 
another, filled with wrath, vented his spite by villify- 
ing Mr. Crawford and his methods. A few of them, 
relinquishing all thought of the ministry, became 
steady-plodding Christians. Their call came not from 
God, and so they fell into the niche they were pre- 
pared to fill. Two native Christians, not of the class, 
were afterwards licensed by the church, but were 
never ordained. One of these was still preaching in 
1894 and zealously instructing Christians. The other 
joined the Methodists, from whom he received lucra- 
tive employment for his services. 

It was about this time that they heard of the death 
of the honored and beloved Secretary of the Foreign 
Mission Board, Dr. James B. Taylor. For twenty 
years, month after month, they had been receiving his 
letters of loving sympathy and encouragement, and 
they both deeply mourned his loss. His place was 
temporarily filled by Rev. A. D.. Phillips, former 
missionary to Africa, until the election of Dr. H. A. 
Tupper, who continued in the office for the next 
twenty years or more. 

In the year 1871 the room in the front court of the 
Crawford home, .which served as a preaching place, 
could no longer seat the congregation, and Mr. Craw- 
ford asked the Board for means to build a small 
chapel, offering to lend the money for its erection. 
Dr. Tupper thus quotes Mr. Crawford : 

"I am contracting for a lot on which to build a 
chapel. I need three thousand dollars for the work. 
I cannot afford to stop labor for want of a chapel, 



172 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

and I shall confidently expect the Board to furnish 
the means. Twenty years of constant labor in China 
entitles me to a chapel in which to train the congre- 
gation which, from nothing, I have gradually built 
to its present number." 

The Board cheerfully granted this, and Dr. Tupper 
writes, "Brother Crawford's chapel at Teng Chow 
has been completed (1872). Everybody, both native 
and foreign, says it is a most beautiful structure, the 
acoustic properties are fine, and the whole cost has 
been some three thousand dollars. The audience room 
is capable of seating two hundred and eighty per- 
sons. At the opening services the sermon was 
preached by Rev. Timothy Richard, of the English 
Baptist mission." Some years after this the money 
advanced was returned by the Board. 

In June, 1872, Miss Edmonia Moon arrived at 
Teng Chow, and was joined the following year by her 
sister, Miss Lottie Moon. They remained in the home 
of Mr. Crawford and his wife until the autumn of 
J 875, when Mr. Hartwell's connection with the 
Foreign Mission Board was dissolved and his North 
Street dwelling was turned over to the Monument 
Street mission, and these sisters moved into it. Here 
Miss Edmonia began a boarding school for girls, but 
was obliged by failing health in 1876 to return to 
the homeland. Miss Lottie continued the school until 
the end of 1883. 

Mr. Crawford, soon after settling on Monument 
Street, began the work of preparing a hymn book in 
the Mandarin dialect for the use of his congregation. 



THIS AND THAT. 173 

He changed most of the Shanghai collection into Man- 
darin, selected and revised some from other hymn 
books, and translated and composed many new ones. 
During the two decades which followed, both he and 
Mrs. Crawford wrote or translated a number of books 
mentioned in detail elsewhere. 

The Margary murder, 1874, which seriously threat- 
ened hostilities between Great Britain and China, gave 
the missionaries much uneasiness. A large number 
of Chinese soldiers were sent to Teng Chow, some 
of whom had been old rebels, and all of whom were 
turbulent fellows ready for any ugly work. They 
thought they had come for the purpose of extermi- 
nating the "barbarians," and rumors of the destruc- 
tion of foreigners again became rife. These soldiers 
took pains to insult the missionaries whenever they met 
them and gave them daily inconvenience. When the 
missionary ladies visited the homes of the people the 
soldiers would often try to follow them in, or stand 
around the door to hoot at them when they came out. 
Under such conditions their visits were not very wel- 
come, and their work suffered in consequence. The 
soldiers would also pick quarrels with the native Chris- 
tians and mission school boys, and would frequently 
come to the chapel and gaze at and otherwise insult 
the women and girls. For some unknown cause a 
crowd of them assembled one Sunday afternoon in 
front of the Crawfords' home. They demanded the 
doors to be opened that they might come in "to hear 
preaching." They w r ere told that this was a private 
residence, that the chapel was near by, and that they 



174 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

might go there a few hours later for this purpose. 
They seemed much excited and there were great fears 
that they might break open the doors. The officials 
learning that a riot was brewing, fired a signal, call- 
ing them all instantly to camp. They frequently en- 
tered the court yards of the mission houses in groups 
and behaved very insolently. 

A large party of them having been offended by 
some of the Presbyterian students, once went to the 
college when all the foreign inmates and most of the 
natives had gone to Sunday-school. Those in charge 
of the houses were severely beaten, windows were 
smashed, doors broken down, and much other damage 
done to the premises. Hearing of the disturbance 
and knowing that Dr. Mateer was absent, Mr. Craw- 
ford hastened over to see if he might render assist- 
ance. An immense crowd of gazers surrounded the 
establishment, but a mandarin soon arrived on the 
scene and quieted the tumult. 

In 1876 the health of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford was 
suffering so seriously that they went to Japan for 
recuperation. It was their first visit to that fairy land 
and they greatly enjoyed it. A stronger contrast can 
hardly be imagined than that between Japan and 
North China. The sturdy, severely practical, self- 
complacent people they left were as different as pos- 
sible from the sprightly, receptive and affable Japan- 
ese. Nature itself also presented a complete change. 
Instead of the barren hills, thirsty valleys, and scanty 
vegetation (except the crops) about Teng Chow, they 
found a luxuriant growth of trees covering hills and 



THIS AND THAT. 175 

vales, amidst lovely seas, lakes, rivers and. neat vil- 
lages. All this was refreshing to them beyond ex- 
pression. The cordial manners of the people also 
charmed them, and they said one day to a Japan 
missionary, "How easy it must be to work among 
such a people. How delightful not to have to feel that 
we ought not to be killed." The public mind in North 
China was still at that time bitterly hostile, and many 
of the people believed that the government was only 
waiting for an opportunity to exterminate all for- 
eigners. 

This missionary replied, "Yes, there may be some 
truth in what you say, but you in China have many 
advantages over us here. When you win a Chinese 
you are pretty sure of him, and there is something in 
him. But if you get a Japanese today, you cannot tell 
where he will be tomorrow. If you travel too slowly 
in the race he will hasten your steps by pelting you 
with stones. " Still to these visitors it was inspiring 
to see their faces glow with enthusiasm under a ser- 
mon, and a whole audience warmly bow their appre- 
ciation to the preacher as he closed his discourse. 

While in Japan that summer Mr. and Mrs. Craw- 
ford arranged to adopt a son and daughter, the chil- 
dren of English parentage. The daughter, then four- 
teen years old, was in a mission school. The son was 
only seven. His mother had died in his infancy, and 
he was here in the hands of a very unsuitable guardian. 
The children were sent over to them the following 
spring, having received the consent of the father who 
was then in the United States. These children, though 



176 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

causing anxiety, were the source of much pleasure. 
The relationship they felt was also an advantage to 
them in their intercourse with the Chinese, who, like 
David, consider children a great blessing and their 
absence the evidence of divine displeasure. Childless 
Chinese frequently give themselves to deeds of charity 
in order to accumulate merit as a compensation. 

The daughter, Minnie, grew to womanhood and 
became the wife of Rev. Alfred G. Jones, of the 
English Baptist mission. He was a most estimable 
and consecrated missionary. They lived at Ching 
Chow, Shantung Province, and had a family of three 
children. In July, 1905, while Mrs. Jones and the 
children were in England, Mr. Jones, who was spend- 
ing the summer in a temple on Tai Shan, was killed 
under a landslide caused by a cloudburst, which came 
suddenly during the night. The adopted son, Alfred 
Crawford, is now farming near Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Owing to extensive drouths in 1876, a large part of 
central Shantung suffered severely from famine. Rev. 
Timothy Richard, of the English Baptist mission, had 
been two or more years living in Ching Chow, the 
center of the famine-stricken region. A private letter 
of his getting into one of the newspapers of Shanghai 
moved the Europeans all over China to contribute 
largely to the relief of the sufferers. Mr. Richard was 
reluctant at first to engage in the distribution of this 
charity, but later he consented. Other missionaries, 
notably Dr. Nevius, of the American Presbyterian 
mission, threw themselves also into this work. The 
number of people who perished in this famine is 



THIS AND THAT. 177 

roughly estimated at one million. The scarcity of 
food stuffs extended over to Teng Chow. The public 
granaries were opened and private charities were 
taxed to the utmost. Public acknowledgments and 
honors were conferred by the officials on Dr. Nevius, 
Mr. Richard and others for their self-sacrificing labors 
and fidelity in this emergency. Great ingatherings 
into the Christian churches, for which central Shan- 
tung has been noted, began soon after this famine. 
Whether the two only synchronized, or whether the 
aid extended moved the people has not been fully 
settled, though most probably the principle of re- 
ligion which prompted the aid appeared so desirable 
to the natives that it made a strong appeal to them, 
and was used by the Holy Spirit for their awakening. 
In May, 1877, the first general conference of China 
missionaries was held in Shanghai. There were 
present from various parts of the empire about one 
hundred and thirty men and women. Each station 
had sent up in advance questions for discussion, and 
a general committee had appointed persons to write 
papers on these subjects. Mr. Crawford wrote an 
argument against the Employment of Native Assist- 
ants with Foreign Money, and Rev. Mr. Sites, of 
Foo Chow, wrote an article taking essentially the 
same ground as Mr. Crawford. The two papers pro- 
voked warm discussion in the conference, the great 
majority being against the views of these two writers, 
but a few strong advocates were heard from. The 
history of Mr. Crawford's opinions on this subject has 
been embodied in a small volume, Evolution in My 



178 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Mission Views, published in 1903, to which the reader 
is referred. The theme of Mrs. Crawford's article 
for the conference was Woman's Work. 

It was thought that much good was accomplished 
at this conference by the interchange of thought and 
feeling and mutual acquaintance among the mission- 
aries. But there was an attempt toward a kind of 
permanent organization by the appointment of stand- 
ing committees for sundry purposes, which was depre- 
cated by Mr. Crawford and others, who were zealous 
for church independence and gospel liberty. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SECOND VISIT TO THE HOME LAND. 

Devotion to their calling and lack of co-workers 
with like views, to whom their responsibilities could be 
entrusted during their absence, kept Mr. and Mrs. 
Crawford on the field much longer than the usual 
period between visits to the home land. Long isola- 
tion from Christian society in the midst of unsympa- 
thetic heathen, together with the many perplexing 
questions constantly arising in the work, bore heavily 
upon Mr. Crawford. But to these enough in them- 
selves for any one man to bear, were added the many 
trials which arose out of his views as to native self- 
support; for only a few of the missionaries then on 
the field sympathized with him, and nearly all around 
him were working on the opposite, or subsidy system. 
According to this subsidy system, all or most of the 
money for carrying on mission operations came from 
foreign lands, such as for church, school and hospital 
buildings, preachers, teachers, schools and assistants 
needed in all these departments. The native employes 
of such naturally became strongly opposed to Mr. 
Crawford. Many of his own members becoming dis- 
appointed in their hopes, joined in the opposition. 
These things thus became a source of anxiety, and 
made it difficult to pilot the young church through the 
breakers. A partial and temporary relief was brought 
about in an unexpected and peculiar way. 



180 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

One day Mr. Crawford asked a Chinese about thirty- 
five years old, if he could make good bricks, and the 
man in an injured tone replied, "You need not, sir, 
ask me that question. I have been making bricks for 
three hundred years, and of course I can make good 
ones." He identified himself with his ancestors in one 
unbroken line. This remark gave new direction to 
Mr. Crawford's study of the genealogical tables in 
the fifth and eleventh chapters of Genesis. He was 
then preparing an Epitome of Ancient History for the 
use of the Chinese, and needed to introduce the line of 
names and dates in these early tables, which he found 
difficult to understand. Influenced by the brickmaker's 
remark, he suspended his work on the Hebrew epi- 
tome and devoted his leisure time for several years to 
a thorough study of these tables. This for a while 
each day brought the mental relief he so much needed, 
which enabled him to carry on his missionary work 
with renewed vigor. As the result of these labors he 
published in 1877 the book called Patriarchal Dynas- 
ties, from Adam to Abraham, shown to cover ten 
thousand five hundred years, and the highest indi- 
vidual life one hundred and eighty-seven years. 

But the end of his strength finally came. After 
eighteen years of continued labor and care, he was 
threatened with partial paralysis. It was decided then 
that he should accept the oft-repeated invitation of the 
Board to visit the United States in search of health 
and recreation. He sailed in June, 1878, and remained 
some months in California, hoping to be able to return 
to China without going to the eastern states. Not 



SECOND VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. 181 

improving as rapidly as he wished he crossed the 
continent to Boston, and after spending a short time 
in that city, then in New York, Philadelphia and 
Washington, he proceeded to Richmond. During his 
stay in America he suggested to the various mission 
boards that they hold a general consultation in regard 
to the withdrawal of all subsidy money from the 
foreign work. All except the officers of the Epis- 
copal Board heartily assented to his proposition, and 
the Southern Baptist Board appointed Dr. Tupper to 
represent them in the proposed conference. But the 
council was never held, and for some unknown cause 
nothing was done in the matter. 

At that time the question of keeping the Chinese 
out of the United States was agitating the public 
mind. Mr. Crawford therefore lectured in various 
places on this subject, as well as on missions. The 
Board at Richmond requested him to return to Wash- 
ington and seek an interview with President Hayes ' 
in regard to the Chinese exclusion act. The President 
received him courteously, but said the question was 
already decided. 

After spending some months in Virginia and the 
Carolinas, he gradually made his way to the meeting 
of the Southern Baptist Convention at Atlanta, in 
May, 1879. He there conversed with several re- 
turned missionaries regarding self-support, and also 
addressed the convention on the subject. Most of 
the Southern Baptist newspapers mentioned his ad- 
dress approvingly. 



182 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

After the convention Mr. Crawford visited some 
relatives in Mississippi and Kentucky, and then re- 
turned to China. On the voyage between Japan and 
Shanghai the steamer was caught in a terrific typhoon 
and narrowly escaped destruction. The bulwarks on 
the weather side were washed away, and the passing 
fore and aft was attended with great peril. The cabins 
were deluged, the engine fires were extinguished and 
the pumps became choked. The sailors (Chinese), 
losing heart, refused to work, and the vessel had six 
feet of water in her hold. The only resource was to 
bail it out with buckets. The steamer was lying help- 
less with her broad side to the waves, every one of 
which poured into her immense quantities of water. 
The captain requested an old seafaring passenger 
to run the gauntlet and inform the other passengers 
of the critical situation. All "turned to" with a will, 
arranging themselves in lines from the hold to the 
deck, where they passed the buckets back and forth 
all night. Mr. Crawford, who was the oldest of the 
company, cheered the anxious passengers by repeating 
"Never give up the ship." He rallied the disheartened 
crew by sending down from time to time refresh- 
ments and cheering words. At the moment when all 
seemed lost, one of the passengers remarked, "The 
time has come to prepare for death." Mr. Crawford 
replied, "I have not waited until now for that prep- 
aration; if God's time has come I am as ready to go 
now and in this way as any other. Pass on the 
buckets." Before daylight the wind began to veer, 
the barometer to rise, and the danger was over. By 



SECOND VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. 183 

sunrise the engine fires were relighted and the battered 
vessel was speeding on her course. 

In June, 1879, the honorary degree of D. D. was 
conferred on Mr. Crawford by Richmond College, 
Richmond, Virginia. 

During Dr. Crawford's absence of more than a year 
from Teng Chow, many extra duties devolved upon 
Mrs. Crawford. Several' of the native brethren volun- 
teered to take turns in conducting the religious ser- 
vices, often consulting Mrs. Crawford in their prep- 
aration for this work. A fellow missionary preached 
for them occasionally. Besides carrying on the school, 
training the Sunday-school teachers and working as 
usual among the villages in spring and autumn, it was 
also necessary for her to act as mission treasurer. 

During this period three of their most advanced 
pupils completed the prescribed course and received 
public recognition of the fact. They were all pro- 
fessed Christians and had done themselves credit both 
in their studies and in exemplary conduct. The ques- 
tion of their future now came up, and Mrs. Crawford 
began to realize, though not yet to the full extent, 
what the school was doing. One of these pupils was 
asked for by the English Baptist mission. They 
wished to give him a medical education, preparatory 
to employing him as a physician. Another was sought 
by the Southern Presbyterian mission, Hang Chow, 
to teach a high school. The third Mrs. Crawford de- 
sired to become a teacher for her own school. Some 
years previous to this they had observed a growing 
belief among the native Christians that the education 



184 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

and permanent employment of their children was the 
legitimate obligation of the Board and the mission- 
aries. To correct this, Mrs. Crawford began to re- 
quire a fee of three dollars per annum from each of 
the pupils for defraying his expenses. From the first 
they had been required to furnish their own clothing, 
which was a decided advance upon any boarding 
school yet in China. But they were still supplied 
with teacher, school room, books, stationery and food 
from the mission treasury. When the fee of three 
dollars was asked considerable dissatisfaction mani- 
fested itself, and a few dropped out of school. The 
most of them, however, continued, believing that at 
the end of the course they would be given good em- 
ployment. This was the rule in the Presbyterian Col- 
lege near them, which was their model. 

It was never Mrs. Crawford's intention to give the 
time to school work which could be used in direct 
evangelization. While teaching Christian books to 
the students in the forenoons, she could still spend the 
afternoons in carrying the gospel to the women in 
their homes. Little could be done among them in 
the forenoon on account of their domestic habits. A 
personal presentation of the gospel to the people was 
her ideal and constant desire, but she found as the 
school grew its demands on her heart, mind and time 
also increased. Although the evangelistic work was 
never accorded any but the first place, she could after- 
wards see that this department did suffer more or 
less from the encroachments of the other. Visits to 
the villages were not less frequent, but those in the 



SECOND VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. 185 

city were often interfered with, and women coming 
to her house sometimes found her so busy with her 
classes that she could say only a few words to them. 
Some of the boys remained in the school from child- 
hood to full grown manhood. A mutual affection and 
confidence grew up between her and them which she 
feels, with some at least, will be lifelong. She watched 
each boy with deep solicitude, prayed for him, and 
labored personally with him for his salvation. Many 
of them became Christians. She rejoiced in teaching 
them the Scriptures, and hoped that some of them 
might become ministers of the gospel. (One of them 
is now the beloved pastor of the Whang Hien 
Church.) These burdens, with the additional care 
of their adopted children, Minnie and Alfred, were 
by the time of Dr. Crawford's return undermining 
her health. Mrs. Holmes had greatly aided in teach- 
ing Alfred, and Dr. Crawford, when time permitted, 
gave both him and his sister lessons, but of course 
much of it fell on Mrs. Crawford. These children 
became very dear to them, and were unwilling to be 
called adopted children. 

In 1881 it became necessary for Mrs. Holmes to 
return to the United States, and on account of con- 
tinued feeble health she had to relinquish the pros- 
pect of resuming work in China. This was to the deep 
regret of Dr. and Mrs. Crawford. Her school of 
girls was left under the general superintendence of 
Mrs. Crawford until the arrival of an expected mis- 
sionary couple. But this couple never came, and soon 

Mrs. Crawford's health demanded a respite. It was 
13 



186 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

now twenty-two years since her former visit home. 
She needed the warm spiritual environments to be 
obtained only in a Christian land. Miss Moon moved 
into Mrs. Holmes' place and united the two girls' 
schools, and Mrs. Crawford's school of boys was to 
be left in Dr. Crawford's charge. Their daughter, 
Minnie, and Rev. Alfred Jones were to be married at 
this time, and as he was English it was necessary that 
the ceremony should be performed in the presence 
of the British Consul at Chefoo. It was also decided 
to place Alfred in the Protestant Collegiate School 
at Chefoo. Hence the whole family accompanied Mrs. 
Crawford to that port, where she was to take steamer. 
And on the morning of October 3, 1881, Minnie was 
married and Alfred sent to the school. In the afternoon 
of the same day Mrs. Crawford sailed for America. 
Dr. Crawford accompanied her as far as Shanghai, 
where he attended the meeting of the Cheh Keang 
Baptist Association, to which the Monument Street 
Church belonged. On the twelfth of October Mrs. 
Crawford left Shanghai on the City of Peking, reach- 
ing San Francisco after an uneventful voyage of a 
month. She was a stranger in the city, but soon formed 
the acquaintance of lovely Christian women, who ex- 
tended to her much kindness. She says, "The Sunday 
after arrival I attended service at the First Baptist 
Church. The large body of devout worshippers, the 
absence of the terrible pressure of heathen coldness 
which had so long weighed me down, and many 
thoughts that came rushing to my mind so overcame 



SECOND VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. 187 

me that irrepressible tears of quiet joy streamed 
clown my face the whole hour." 

From San Francisco she hastened on by rail to 
visit the beloved mother, more than eighty-one years 
of age, then living with her oldest daughter in Stark- 
ville, Mississippi. Her father had died in the home 
of this daughter some years previously at the age 
of seventy-five, ripe in years and Christian experience 
which shed a fragrance wherever he was known. 

Again she says, "During my stay in America of 
about eighteen months I visited many of the southern 
states, met multitudes of earnest, godly Christians, 
and formed friendships which have greatly increased 
my happiness." 

The school of boys, as before mentioned, was left 
in Dr. Crawford's care, but he took no active part 
in the teaching. He had never purposed being bur- 
dened with it, and with this distinct understanding 
it had been carried on from the first. But now that it 
was on his hands, he began to give more study to its 
tendencies and to its effects on the propagation of a 
healthy Christianity. It had become evident to his 
mind that young men educated in mission boarding 
schools were unfit to make their way among their 
countrymen. They must look alone to foreign em- 
ployment as teachers, doctors, or preachers. Mis- 
sionaries only needed a few personal teachers in their 
mission, but no doctors or preachers to be paid with 
mission money. And now the question came strongly 
before him: 



188 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

"Shall we train these men at great expense to our 
American brethren for employment and finally, as the 
sequel has proved, for membership also in other de- 
nominations ?" 

The quickest solution would have been for him to 
disband the school and for him and his wife to con- 
fine themselves strictly to religious labors, but all the 
mission opposed this step. Members of the Presby- 
terian mission, and also the native Christians gen- 
erally, strongly urged its continuance. As Messrs*. 
Halcomb and Pruitt, who arrived soon after Mrs. 
Crawford's departure, were ready to teach English, 
Dr. Crawford proposed to introduce its study into 
the course, and thereby, as far as possible, make the 
school self-supporting. To this all cheerfully agreed. 
English teaching in mission schools was carried on 
extensively when they first reached China in 1852. 
The Crawfords, however, disapproved of it. One 
reason was that the students would seek secular em- 
ployment among European merchants who would 
give higher wages than the missionaries could afford, 
and the students would be subjected to unusually great 
temptations. But now the desire on Dr. Crawford's 
part was, if there must be a school, to fit the students 
for secular positions, as he did not wish, after the 
pattern of so many missions, to give them religious 
employment. So English was introduced simulta- 
neously in both schools. Only a few of the reasons 
for this revolution can be given in writing, and they 
must be given at second hand, as they have been re- 



SECOND VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. 189 

ceived from those who have lived and worked on the 
field. Mrs. Crawford writes; 

"At. first (being in America when I heard of it) I 
exceedingly deplored this step, feeling I could never 
give my precious time to teaching English. I thought 
that such a boarding school could never be made self- 
supporting in Teng Chow, and that this effort would 
surely prove its death. But the letters assured me 
again and again that the students and their parents 
were delighted at the prospects, and most of them 
were paying their board. After Mr. Pruitt's mar- 
riage in 1882, he removed to the North Street house, 
and Mr. Halcomb went to live with him. Early in 
1883 the school was transferred to their place and 
kept until my return." 

Such was the condition of affairs when Mrs. Craw- 
ford returned to Teng Chow, July, 1883. Before her 
departure she had begun to see tendencies that gave 
her uneasiness, and things had developed rapidly in 
her absence. She and Dr. Crawford discussed the 
matter a great deal, and both being now relieved of the 
daily grind of teaching and superintending the school, 
were in a better position to take in the bearings of the 
various phases of the question. Messrs. Halcomb and 
Pruitt proposed to give the school back to Mrs. Craw- 
ford, but she prevailed upon them to keep it until the 
end of the year. She spent much of the autumn visit- 
ing the villages. This kind of work could now be done 
in a more satisfactory manner than formerly, and she 
could remain many days together in one family, teach- 
ing them and their neighbors the way of life. 



190 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

More and more it was seen that the self-reliant, 
healthy Christianity for which they had been labor- 
ing and praying was hindered rather than helped by 
the boarding schools. The non-Christians were heard 
to discuss the subject, and the mirror they unwittingly 
held up before the eyes of the missionaries taught them 
many lessons and gave them much food for thought. 
By the close of 1883, they were both willing to dis- 
band the school and to give themselves exclusively to 
spiritual work. To their surprise Miss Moon soon 
closed her school also, for the same great desire to 
give herself exclusively to gospel labors. 

Dr. and Mrs. Crawford felt that by far the best 
part of their missionary life and labors was that which 
followed their cutting loose from the mission boarding 
school. Mrs. Crawford says in reference to these 
matters, "My husband's views, both in regard to the 
school question and that of native preachers, were 
greatly misunderstood by many of his fellow mission- 
aries, native Christians, and some brethren in the 
home land." "He is opposed to education," said 
some, which was of course absurd. "He is opposed 
to paid preachers," said others, which was equally un- 
true. He was in favor of both of these under proper 
conditions, but not in cases where they evidently hin- 
dered the building up of a sturdy, healthy Christianity. 

"He will dismiss even a servant in his employ should 
he become a Christian," some one falsely asserted. 
But the truth was he sometimes employed a servant 
who was already a Christian; but more frequently, 
as Christians were not plentiful, his heathen servants 



SECOND VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. 191 

became such and remained in his service faithful and 
beloved for ten, fifteen and even twenty years. As 
previously stated, when Wang Ping San became a 
Christian he engaged him primarily as a teacher of 
the language, but he was of far greater help to Dr. 
Crawford than this. He could aid him in his work, 
could advise with him, could point out to him with a 
Christian interest various avenues for reaching his 
countrymen, and in numberless instances pave his 
way into the hearts of the natives. After removing to 
Teng Chow he never found a man who could so fully 
fill such a place. And it was always his wish, as far 
as possible, to secure a personal helper who could fill 
these several needs. 

Times now in China are undergoing great and 
rapid changes, and with the reforms and new phases 
of society many missionary methods may undergo 
changes also. But the gospel is for all ages and all 
conditions. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

STREET PREACHING AND OTHER LABORS. 

A good deal has already been said in these pages 
of the village and chapel work of earlier years. As 
time went on curiosity began to subside, and as a re- 
sult the congregations grew smaller. Dr. Crawford 
then turned his attention to other methods for reach- 
ing the people. Observing that on summer evenings 
the men left their close, stuffy houses for the streets, 
where they would spend hours in smoking and dis- 
cussing whatever subject came up, he often, accom- 
panied by a native brother, would go forth to find 
hearers. Watching his opportunity as he passed 
along, he would embrace the first opening to enter 
into conversation with some individual or group, and 
by his skillful handling of the conversation would 
soon give it a religious turn. In cold weather the hour 
chosen for work was noon, when the people were 
going home for dinner, but in spring and autumn late 
in the afternoon was found to be the best hour. Prac- 
tice gives facility, and hearers were generally secured. 
In process of time his very appearance on the streets 
would suggest the name of Jesus, and while some 
would shy off, others would request him to preach. 
On the more quiet streets the women would come 
out on the doorsteps to listen, and often during his 
wife's visits they would tell her what they had heard 
him say on such occasions. The boys, always on the 



1 



t 




DR. AND MRS. CRAWFORD JUST BEFORE SAILING 
FROM NEW YORK IN 1851 




A HEATHEN TEMPLE 



STREET PREACHING AND OTHER LABORS. 193 

alert as to what was going on, usually formed a large 
part of his audience, and probably remembered the 
import of his discourse better than any other class. 

As the years rolled on his itinerating also assumed 
new phases. Vacant houses could occasionally be 
rented in the villages, where he and his wife could 
live and work together. Then it was found possible 
to rent rooms in private families, where she could re- 
main for days at a time, but where no man would 
be received. Dr. Crawford then, decided to try tent 
preaching, and had one constructed at a cost of fifteen 
dollars capable of holding about fifty persons, besides 
a little compartment at the rear for sleeping and cook- 
ing. Selecting a vacant spot on the outskirts of a 
village, he would pitch his tent and remain for some 
days, instructing all who came in. At some places 
the village elders came out and showed their appre- 
ciation of the work, the villagers following their 
example; at other places the cold shoulder would be 
given. Experience proved it was best to pitch the 
tent facing the east when possible, and also against 
some wall to prevent the irrepressible boys from 
chasing each other around it and disturbing the work. 
Circuits of weeks at a time were thus made, and 
through this means multitudes heard the gospel. Once 
while in the process of moving from one town to 
another a heavy rain came on, and they both con- 
tracted a heavy cold and cough in consequence of the 
dampness, which lasted nearly all of that winter. 

At a large market town the tent was once entered 
by thieves. The wind was blowing furiously, and Dr. 



194 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Crawford at a late hour sought sleeping quarters in an 
inn, leaving the servant and a native. Christian visitor 
in charge of the tent. The flapping of the tent pre- 
vented the occupants from hearing other sounds, while 
the thieves lifted the pegs on one side and crept quietly 
in and took a box that contained eatables, plates, a 
good umbrella, towels and cash. In the morning Dr. 
Crawford finding himself without food or money 
started for home. On the way he had his wrist badly 
sprained by a fall from a donkey, and was deprived 
of its use for months. 

According to custom a list of the stolen articles was 
sent to the district magistrate, with a request that the 
thieves be brought to justice. The magistrate sent 
runners to the town and promptly arrested the prin- 
ciple offender. Following this precedent a number of 
other persons brought in their claims against him for 
missing property. After several weeks' delay most of 
Dr. Crawford's things were recovered. They had 
been sold to respectable people who well knew their 
ownership. 

In January, 1884, Miss Roberts joined the mission, 
proposing to go to Hwang Hien when that station 
should be opened. Up to this time all efforts to rent a 
house in that city had failed. The next summer Miss 
Roberts was married to Mr. Halcomb. In October, 
to the deep sorrow of all, Mrs. Pruitt was taken away 
by death. She was a most lovely woman and conse- 
crated missionary. Her loss was keenly felt, especially 
by those who were expecting to open a new station. 



STREET PREACHING AND OTHER LABORS. 195 

In December of 1884, Messrs. Joiner and Davauit, 
with their wives, arrived in Teng Chow. In the mean- 
time negotiations for the house at Hwang Hien 
seemed at a standstill. The owner had been impris- 
oned and his steward severely beaten by the officials 
for attempting to rent to foreigners, and there ap- 
peared no present hope for the enterprise. 

Buh Go is twelve miles west of Teng Chow, and is 
the largest town except Teng Chow in the county. 
Immediately after the robber raid in 1867, Dr. and 
Mrs. Crawford adopted it as one of their stations. Ir- 
regular and short visits were made to it and the sur- 
rounding towns until the fall of 1883, when they 
decided to take up regular work there. Mrs. Craw- 
ford going out in October with a native Christian, had 
no difficulty in finding vacant rooms for a few days' 
lodging. Great crowds of women and children gath- 
ered around her. Mrs. Yang, a woman of wealth, 
sent for the missionary to come and see her, and on 
going the next day Mrs. Crawford found her to be a 
very interesting woman. She could read, and asked 
many intelligent questions. She said : 

"Do not send around in search of lodgings when 
you come again, but come directly to my house. You 
see I have plenty of room and will always be glad to 
have you. I could not take in your husband, nor any 
man, native or foreign." 

She and Mrs. Crawford often sat together until a 
late hour of the night, reading the word and singing 
the songs of Zion. "But alas/' said Mrs. Crawford, 



196 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

"her heart was not touched by the Spirit's power, and 
years after she died a heathen." 

The following spring the missionaries secured 
rooms in the northern part of the town where they 
spent nearly two weeks. At first Dr. Crawford sat in 
the outer room and his wife in the inner one, but find- 
ing that many women were thus deterred from coming 
he removed his work to an adjacent temple, leaving 
both their rooms for the women and girls. Wang 
Yuen Tswen, through whose kind offices they secured 
the rooms, had been for twenty years a Buddhist de- 
votee, but had lately heard the gospel and was favor- 
able to it. He recommended his neighbors and friends 
to come and hear the new doctrine, and his only 
daughter became very much interested. He had for 
years been managing the business of his aunt, Mrs. 
Wang, a widow of much wealth and of sterling char- 
acter. In girlhood she had been given to an opium- 
smoking mandarin for an inferior wife. This man 
died the following year. At eighteen she was again 
taken as second wife by one of the wealthiest men of 
Buh Go. She was then most beautiful and attractive 
and possessed more than ordinary mental gifts. The 
superior wife, though nominally mistress of the fam- 
ily, was quite neglected by her husband, and conse- 
quently was treated with scant courtesy by the rest of 
the household. The inferior wife became the mother 
of a son and daughter. This son (as the superior wife 
had no children) was, of course, sole heir to the large 
estate, and all the hopes of the family were centered in 
him. While yet a child his father died, and the first 




MRS. WANG, ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF MRS. CRAWFORD, 
WITH HER NEPHEW 



STREET PREACHING AND OTHER LABORS. 197 

wife soon followed him. The son at the age of four- 
teen married a pretty young woman of superior qual- 
ities. Later the old grandfather died exacting a prom- 
ise from Wang Yuen Tswen, his most trustworthy 
relative, that he become an inmate of the family and 
take care of the grandson. But the youth himself died 
at the age of seventeen, and this blow well nigh proved 
the death of both his young wife and mother. Having 
no male descendent, the only recourse was for them to 
adopt a near relative's son, who would become heir to 
the estate. But enemies arose to take advantage of 
their helpless condition and tried to appropriate their 
property. Mrs. Wang fully realized the situation, and 
throwing herself upon her brick bed (she afterwards 
told me), for forty days she scarcely knew anything 
that occurred. Friends forced food into her mouth as 
she lay almost unconscious day after day. Wang 
Yuen Tswen and a few other friends looked carefully 
after her interests. As there were hopes of a yet un- 
born heir, the enemies tried by various schemes to 
drive the young widow to commit suicide, but this step 
she steadily refused to take. Efforts were made to 
get by force the ancestral tablets, this being an import- 
ant step towards claiming the property. Some of 
them were taken, but the essential one lay concealed in 
the loose folds of a female relative's dress, while she 
sat on a brick platform (bed) calmly reasoning with 
the robbers. Wang Yuen Tswen was prosecuted for 
sundry alleged crimes, but the suits in every case 
turned in his favor. 



198 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

On the fortieth night after her son's death, as Mrs. 
Wang sat on the bed looking up through the lattice 
window she exclaimed, "O Heavenly Father ! if Thou 
art truly a living, powerful God, and if Thou carest to 
preserve the lives of these two helpless widows, I be- 
seech Thee to give me a grandson to inherit our name 
and estate, otherwise we shall surely perish." Wang 
Yuen Tswen may have told her something of the 
Christian religion, but in that region those who have 
not heard of Christianity have an indefinite notion of 
the sovereign power which they speak of and address 
as the "Heavenly Father." From that hour she took 
courage and went about her daily duties, and aided her 
friends in defeating the schemes of her opponents. 
Three months later it was announced that the daugh- 
ter-in-law had given birth to twin sons, but it is be- 
lieved by many that one of them was smuggled in, lest 
the newcomer should prove to be a daughter. 

These boys were not yet a year old when Mrs. 
Crawford became acquainted with Mrs. Wang in 1883. 
Wang Yuen Tswen took Mrs. Crawford to call at 
Mrs. Wang's, but the latter was very timid, fearing 
that intercourse with foreigners might bring on fresh 
troubles. The next spring Wang could not induce her 
to give Dr. and Mrs. Crawford lodging for the same 
reason, but she came often to their stopping place and 
listened earnestly to the gospel. In a year or two her 
fears so subsided that she invited them to make her 
house their home whenever they were in the town. 
She also had been a Buddhist devotee, but on the death 
of her son angrily cast her idols and religion away. 



STREET PREACHING AND OTHER LABORS. 199 

She now loved to hear the gospel, and wished to be 
taught the Scriptures and hymns. 

One day fearing she might, according to the Budd- 
hist idea, think there was virtue in chanting, Mrs. 
Crawford said to her, "It is not necessary to read in 
order to be a Christian. Worship God, trust in Jesus 
and you shall be saved." 

"I understand that," she said, "I do not learn to read 
as possessing any virtue in itself, but I can thus be a 
more intelligent Christian and have a better foundation 
for my faith." 

She fitted up neatly and tastefully, for the especial 
use of the missionaries, a suite of four rooms with a 
separate street entrance. These rooms, where they 
taught all who came, soon acquired the name "wor- 
ship hall." Whenever Mrs. Wang had a spare moment 
from her numerous responsibilities, she was at Mrs. 
Crawford's side listening and learning, or helping to 
teach others. "Slowly but surely the light entered her 
soul," said the missionary. 

Mrs. Wang, in her unprotected condition, had much 
to fear from her old enemies. The twins were never 
left alone, lest they should be stolen or put out of ex- 
istence. Should she become a Christian these old 
schemers would probably take advantage of this fact 
to renew their demands for her estate, pleading that 
she had cast away the family ancestors. But eternal 
life and an ever present Lord in whom she might trust ! 
were not these worth more than her fortune? When 
Wang Yuen Tswen was baptized they began to have 
daily family worship and all-day Sunday-school on 



200 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Sundays. She was finally able to give herself wholly 
to the Saviour and accept all the consequences of fol- 
lowing Him. 

"But," she said, "I cannot hurry. There are great 
difficulties for me to overcome, and I wish to have 
every particle of idolatry swept out of my house before 
I take upon myself the outward profession of Chris- 
tianity." 

At one of the annual festivals, when the souls of the 
ancestors were to be invited to the old home and 
feasted, she went to the door and exclaimed, "Ven- 
erable ancestors ! if you really are come, you will see 
I have made no preparations to entertain you. If you 
will punish me tonight with a severe headache or colic, 
I will know that you are here and feel neglected, and 
I will do so no more." 

When she told Mrs. Crawford of this, she added, 
"I never in my life had a more restful night, without 
an ache or pain." This was all done, partly to satisfy 
other members of the family, and yet Mrs. Wang her- 
self may have had some lingering fear of the conse- 
quences of such a bold revolution. There has since 
been no idolatry in her house or from its doors. 

One such case as this is a great trophy for the re- 
ligion of Jesus, and it is thought to be of sufficient 
interest to justify the space here given it. 

Mrs. Wang aided Mrs. Crawford greatly in secur- 
ing suitable lodgings in the surrounding villages, and, 
whenever she could, visited her at these places, helping 
by precept and example to lead her people to Christ. 
She often told her own experience, and sometimes 



STREET PREACHING AND OTHER LABORS. 201 

added that if her life had been smooth and prosper- 
ous she would probably never have felt the need of a 
Saviour. She thanks God for the sorrows that led 
her to Him and to eternal life. She would take her 
book with her, and when no one was present to be 
taught or exhorted she and Mrs. Crawford would read 
the Scriptures together, the latter explaining to her 
what she did not understand. Many useful hints were 
received from her in regard to Chinese matters, and by 
this constant, confidential intercourse the hearts of the 
missionary and her intelligent convert were knit to- 
gether. Knowing that her visiting often at a for- 
eigner's house and following her about from village to 
village would provoke unfavorable criticism, she, at 
an early date, asked and obtained permission to call 
Mrs. Crawford "adopted mother." According to 
Chinese custom, such a relationship means a real and 
lasting intimacy which all respect. She took especial 
care to let this relationship be known, and then as a 
matter of course they could exchange visits whenever 
desired. Dr. Crawford, her adopted father, was ever 
welcome at her house, and was treated by all her 
neighbors with the greatest consideration. Even her 
young women relatives claimed the kinship, and 
treated him with the respectful freedom that might be 
expected in the home land. All Christians, native and 
foreign, are welcome and honored guests at her hos- 
pitable home. She lets her light shine, and is ever 
ready to exhort her fellow countrymen to believe in 
Jesus. 



202 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Some years later, in the summer of 1893, when she 
heard that her adopted parents were intending to leave 
Teng Chow permanently, she hastened to the city to 
see them. As they met her she sobbed out, "Is it 
true?" "True," they replied. There was a weeping 
together until the pious native "exceeded," and needed 
to be comforted. After this her adopted father and 
mother paid her a last visit. All pleaded that they 
should not desert them, that if they must leave Teng 
Chow they should come and live at Buh Go, offering 
to give them house rent and to help support them. 
For days Mrs. Wang aided them in packing, prepara- 
tory to moving. Her tear-stained face was one of the 
last they looked upon as they took their final departure 
from their home of thirty years. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHANGES AND NEW OPENINGS. 

For many years the North China mission had been 
urgently appealing for more workers for Shantung 
Province. In the meantime, since the American war, 
the Board had opened missions in Italy, Brazil, and 
Mexico, while the older ones in China were languish- 
ing for want of help. It seemed difficult for the people 
in the home land to realize the fact that a mission to 
be efficient, must not only have sufficient reinforce- 
ments to fill up the gaps made by deaths and depart- 
ures, but the force must from time to time be aug- 
mented. 

About this time, 1885, each of the missionaries 
received from the Board a copy of Rev. C. H. Car- 
penter's then recent book, Self-Support in Bassein. 
Dr. Crawford read it with interest, and inferred from 
the Board's sending it that they were ready to favor 
self-support. He felt thus encouraged to visit the 
United States for the purpose of consulting with the 
Board, and if possible with them to enter upon some 
plan for informing the Baptist public, and especially 
those who would become missionaries. So he resolved 
to delay further appeal for a large number of new 
workers until he should see what would result from 
this effort. 

In March, 1885, Dr. Crawford started to the home 
land on this mission. A full account of this visit with 



204 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

its results is given in his book, Evolution in My Mis- 
sion Views. 

After about two years of wearisome negotiations, 
word was received that the house at Hwang Hien 
might be obtained without further trouble. The 
United States consul had referred the matter to the 
United States minister at Peking, and the opposition 
to the missionaries' renting had vanished on the ar- 
rival of instructions from the Chinese government. 
The owner being greatly in need of money, the house 
was secured at once. Then the question arose, who 
should occupy it? Mrs. Pruitt and Mrs. Halcomb 
having both died, their husbands did not think it best 
to go there alone. It was speedily arranged that the 
Davaults and the Joiners should take charge of the 
new station. The house was sufficiently large to be 
divided into two separate establishments. They re- 
moved to it in October, 1885, and Hwang Hien was at 
last occupied. 

In November Mrs. Crawford visited them, and 
assisted in talking to the women who came in great 
numbers to see their new neighbors. She also spent 
much of the autumn at Buh Go, where renewed inter- 
est was manifested in the gospel. In the spring of 
1886, her first visit was made to Ching Chow to see 
her daughter, Mrs. Jones, and also to see the prosper- 
ous work of the English Baptist mission. 

Dr. Crawford, while in America, 1885-1886, re- 
signed the treasurership of the mission, and the books 
were given over to Mr. Pruitt who had been appointed 
to that office by the Board. At the same time Dr. 



CHANGES AND NEW OPENINGS. 205 

Crawford wrote asking the Teng Chow Church no 
longer to consider him their pastor, but to look to a 
younger man who would be better able to bear the re- 
sponsibilities. The church in reply urged him to with- 
draw the request, but he said that his decision must be 
regarded as final. Then they chose Mr. Pruitt who 
was the same day elected pastor of the church at 
Shang Tswang. This had been left pastorless through 
the recent resignation of Mr. Halcomb who dissolved 
his connection with the Foreign Mission Board on ac- 
count of changes in his religious views. Mr. Halcomb 
left the mission that autumn, and became United 
States consul at Chefoo. 

In December of that year Dr. Crawford, partly dis- 
appointed in the object of his visit to America, re- 
turned to Teng Chow and resumed his work of daily 
preaching to the heathen, and also aided Mr. Pruitt 
in the Sunday labors at the chapel. 

In the autumn of 1885, Miss Moon began her inter- 
esting work at Ping Tu. Several visits to this region 
had been made by the gentlemen of the mission, and 
one by the first Mrs. Pruitt, but no regular labor had 
been carried on there. A native Christian, who had 
for twenty years served the Crawfords in Teng Chow, 
secured lodging for Miss Moon at his mother's house, 
but the quarters were cramped and uncomfortable. 
After repeated failures she succeeded in renting a 
small house admirably situated for her purposes, 
which later became Miss Knight's home. Miss Moon 
toiled here indefatigably during the spring, autumn 
and winter of a number of years, and won the hearts 
of the people and laid the foundation of a noble work. 



206 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

In October, 1887, Mr. Davault died of consumption 
in Dr. Crawford's home, and Mr. and Mrs. Joiner soon 
returned to their native land for the restoration of 
health. During Mr. Davault's last illness, Dr. Craw- 
ford visited Hwang Hien and spent some time preach- 
ing in the city and neighborhood. There he met Tan 
Ho Bang of Saling, near Ping To, who from him 
heard the gospel for the first time. It was a pleasure 
to find a man with such religious inclinations, and to 
learn from him the nature of the sect to which he be- 
longed, called the Lao Tien Men. This sect rejects 
idolatry, offers prayers to the Heavenly Teacher, has 
ten commandments, resembling in many particulars 
those given to Moses, and teaches self denial for their 
religion. It was a question with some of the mission- 
aries whether this sect might not be a remnant of 
Nestorian Christianity, which was introduced into 
China many centuries ago. 

Dr. Crawford had many talks with Mr. Tan and left 
him in the hands of Mr. Joiner, but later Mr. Tan 
went to see Dr. Crawford at Teng Chow. 

In the autumn Miss Moon wrote requesting Mrs. 
Crawford to help her a while at Ping Tu, and get 
acquainted with the work preparatory to having the 
care over it during Miss Moon's visit to the home 
land. She therefore spent November there and was 
much pleased with the people and prospects. During 
the winter two members of the Lao Tien Men of 
Saling, one of them the elder brother of Tan Ho Bang, 
and the leader of the sect in that village, came and 



CHANGES AND NEW OPENINGS. 207 

begged Miss Moon to go and instruct the women of 
his neighborhood. Whereupon she went to Saling 
and found the women eager to hear, and she promised 
to go again and take Mrs. Crawford with her. On 
going together they found no little interest in this 
"new way." On their second visit Dr. Crawford 
accompanied them, he lodging at an inn in the neigh- 
boring town of Tang To. The Saling men went to 
him there every night for religious instruction. After 
his departure to intinerate among the surrounding 
villages it was arranged that Mrs. Crawford should 
teach the men and Miss Moon the women. On rainy 
days when they could not go out to the field and at 
night, from one to a dozen men would sit for hours 
at a time, listening intently to the divine message and 
asking many questions. It was during this week of 
most arduous work that Miss Moon, seeing the people 
hungering for the bread of life, promised that she 
would not leave for America until she could secure for 
them a resident missionary at Ping Tu. 

In January, 1888, an experiment was made in the 
work at Teng Chow by renting temporarily a room in 
the water city, where Mrs. Crawford, accompanied by 
a woman servant, spent ten days, gaining access to 
many women who lived too far away for her regular 
visiting. One evening a respectable merchant called 
and asked for an interview. Though as a rule it was 
best not to receive men, yet finding that he was an 
acquaintance of her hostess and highly esteemed by 
the neighbors she admitted him. He apologized for 
calling, saying that his little daughter had been coming 



208 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

daily to see her and had told him some of her words. 
He remarked that the neighbors were all puzzled at 
her leaving her comfortable home and living for days 
in such poor, cramped quarters, and wondered what 
could be her motive. Patiently she explained to him 
the importance of the message they were carrying to 
his people — salvation in this life and in the next — and 
how difficult it was to reach many of the women with- 
out coming to live right among them; how that in 
spring and autumn she went to the villages, and now 
while the weather was too cold to go to a distance, she 
intended to visit for a while for the same purpose in 
several parts of the city. He seemed to appreciate the 
good intentions and the message itself, and both his 
wife and daughter came often with others to hear and 
inquire. Being pleased with this effort, Mrs. Craw- 
ford each successive winter rented rooms in the differ- 
ent parts of the main city where she could live and 
labor for days, and form more intimate friendships 
among the women, thereby opening the way for regu- 
lar visits to their homes. Many were thus drawn 
nearer to her. Some of her best work she thinks was 
done in this way, and that souls were led to Jesus 
Christ. November of this year was spent with Miss 
Moon at Ping Tu, while Dr. Crawford was tenting 
among the villages around Teng Chow and Whang 
Hien. 

It was during this visit to Ping Tu in November, 
1888, that Mr. Li, the village school teacher, came 
with a friend to Mrs. Crawford to search into the real 
inwardness of this new doctrine. He afterwards told 



CHANGES AND NEW OPENINGS. 209 

her that he had had strong prejudices against Chris- 
tianity and its propagators, but hearing so much about 
it among the villagers he decided to go and find out 
for himself. After a long conversation and many 
questions answered, he became convinced of the divine 
origin of the gospel, and with an honest heart set 
about to seek his own salvation. For several years he 
has been the beloved and efficient pastor of four Ping 
Tu churches. 

In the beginning of 1889 Dr. Crawford's health was 
seriously threatened. His physician strongly advised 
his going home, and expressed a doubt whether it 
would be wise for him ever to spend another winter in 
Teng Chow. Later his symptoms of paralysis ceased 
to be alarming, and he was able to go without his wife, 
whose presence was so much needed in Teng Chow. 

On April 22, 1889, he set out for the States, but 
went no farther east than Texas. After the failure to 
secure the sanction of the Board in introducing self- 
support principles, Dr. Crawford had turned his atten- 
tion more earnestly than ever to the study of mission 
matters at home and abroad. His views, though out- 
lined in the main, were not fully matured at the time 
of his visit to Texas. While there he attended two 
associations, lectured on the subject to a few churches 
and to the State Convention, but most of his time was 
spent in rusticating with relatives and recuperating his 
impaired strength. He was present at the meeting of 
the Southern Baptist Convention at Ft. Worth, and 
three days after its adjournment he turned his face 
toward China, fully restored in health. 



210 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

In July, 1889, Mr. G. P. Bostick and wife reached 
Teng Chow and became members of Dr. Crawford's 
family. Miss Fannie Knight came also to labor with 
Miss Moon at Ping Tu. All three of the stations 
needed the Bosticks. Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt who had 
reopened Hwang Hien in 1888, were there now alone. 
Ping Tu was without a man to lead the infant disciples 
in that region, and Mr. Bostick seemed indispensable 
also at Teng Chow. The scattered Christians in this 
station were becoming discouraged. The paralyzing 
effect of conditions around them had prevented the 
development of native leaders. On the disbanding of 
the boys' school, some of the students who had ex- 
pected employment in the mission had failed to get it, 
though a few were engaged as teachers for the new 
missionaries. But these missionaries except one had 
either died or gone home. Realizing the situation the 
graduates, one after another, had sought employment 
in other missions, and in process of time joined the 
denominations which they served. Some of their 
parents and friends lost interest in Christianity — their 
interest being in the hope of gain — and had to be ex- 
cluded from the church as dead branches. Others 
after many temptations were righted, and were soon 
beginning to show signs of true Christian life, but a 
foreign leader was still indispensable. One by one the 
young missionaries had turned their faces westward, 
until the native members feared that w T hen Dr. and 
Mrs. Crawford, "the old people/' should die, there 
would be no one to take their places. Under such con- 
ditions it was urged that Mr. Bostick should remain 



CHANGES AND NEW OPENINGS. 211 

at Teng Chow, and he himself decided to do so at 
least temporarily. 

They were pleased to find that Mr. and Mrs. Bostick 
and Miss Knight came to China, taking the native 
self-support ideas for granted. Though they had not 
studied the subject in detail with reference to foreign 
missions, yet self reliance was a principle they had 
grown up with, and one careful look at the field con- 
firmed them as to its correctness. When the native 
Christians who were recuperating from the opposite 
practice and were growing in their conceptions of self- 
support, heard that Mr. Bostick would remain at Teng 
Chow they thanked God and took courage. 

In November, 1889, Mr. and Mrs. League went out 
to reinforce the Whang Hien mission, and Miss Bar- 
ton went to Teng Chow. 

In May, 1890, the second General Missionary Con- 
ference was held at Shanghai. Mr. Bostick and Mrs. 
Crawford prepared to attend it, but when the time 
came to start she was sick with the grippe, and Mr. 
Bostick went without her. Four days later when she 
was barely able to be up, Mrs. Bostick was taken with 
virulent smallpox, and the physician advised that Mr. 
Bostick be telegraphed for at once as it would probably 
prove fatal. The few days that followed were days 
of indescribable anxiety. One of the loveliest of 
women, who gave promise of becoming one of the most 
efficient of missionaries, was about to be suddenly 
snatched away! How could they give her up? Dr. 
Crawford was in Texas, Mr. Bostick in Shanghai, 
Miss Barton at Ping Tu, and Mrs. Crawford was all 



212 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

alone with the sufferer. The kind physician was pres- 
ent much of the time, but his own wife was ill and he 
was exhausted from care of her. One of the Presby- 
terian missionaries kindly offered his aid in nursing, 
but Mrs. Crawford thought it best not to accept this 
aid so long as her own strength held out. She did not 
leave Mrs. Bostick except for meals until the last day 
(though not thinking it was to be the last) when she 
wrote for Mr. Elterich to come and sit by the patient 
while she herself took a little rest. At the end of three 
hours Mrs. Crawford was called, and to her great dis- 
tress, found Mrs. Bostick rapidly sinking and too far 
gone for any parting messages. About noon she died. 
The next day she was buried, and the day following 
the stricken husband arrived at the sad, lonely home. 
A few days later he took his little daughter to Shang- 
hai to be sent in charge of missionary friends to 
America. 

In July, 1890, Dr. Crawford arrived in Teng Chow 
from Texas, and in August Miss Thornton, of Ala- 
bama, reinforced that station. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 

The two great problems which are continually be- 
fore every missionary are how best to plant self- 
propagating churches, and how best to seek out and 
train an efficient, God-called ministry. Even before 
reaching the field, Dr. Crawford had to some extent 
studied these questions, carefully examining the scrip- 
tures and other sources of information within his 
reach. He tried to cut his mind loose from the con- 
ditions under which he had grown up, and to real- 
ize as far as possible how different were those to be 
met with in a heathen land. The missionary litera- 
ture of those days consisted mainly of articles on 
school teaching, preaching, itinerating tours and the 
labors of paid native assistants. Influenced by this 
literature and similar missionary speeches he nat- 
urally supposed these to be the proper methods of 
work. 

On arriving at Hong Kong he heard a story that 
caused him to look at these matters from a new stand- 
point. He was told about the native assistants em- 
ployed by Dr. Gutzlaf, through whom he had made 
a great sensation in the religious world. The news- 
papers contained many thrilling accounts of their evan- 
gelistic work. Dr. Gutzlaf employed two hundred 
of these native preachers, being nearly all of the 
membership of his church, sent them into the interior 



214 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

to preach the gospel and to distribute New Testaments 
free among the people. He also required them to 
keep diaries of their journeys and their labors to be 
translated for the Christian public at home. Accord- 
ing to these glowing accounts, one edition after an- 
other was distributed and eagerly read; and many 
people in the interior gladly heard the gospel, while 
others stirred up persecutions against the evangelists 
who by the help of God had narrowly escaped from 
mobs and other dangers. But after a time a young 
missionary associate having his suspicions aroused, 
communicated his doubts of this work to his senior; 
and to test the matter, each copy of the next edition 
of the New Testament was privately marked before 
being given out to the assistants. In a short while 
another edition was demanded, and was promptly 
supplied by the native printer. On examination the 
private marks were discovered, and thus it was re- 
vealed that these books had been going from printer 
to missionary, from missionary to native assistants, 
and from native assistants back to the printer, thus 
making the rounds again and again for years. The 
preachers and printers had been dividing among 
themselves the money given out each time for these 
same books. It was also brought to light that the 
preachers, instead of making the long tours and de- 
livering the stirring sermons reported in their jour- 
nals, had spent their time in the opium dens and 
gambling halls of Hong Kong, drawing the reported 
incidents from their imagination. The possibility of 
such wholesale deception can be readily believed by 



SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 215 

any person who is acquainted with the state of things 
in China at that time. 

This story provoked thought. Though it was not 
assumed by Dr. Crawford that such was the character 
of all native assistants, yet it was clearly perceived 
that the employment system would excite unworthy 
men to seek entrance into the church for the sake of 
pecuniary gain, and that those not paid by foreign 
money would not feel it their duty to preach the 
gospel. Thus the propagators of Christianity would 
fail of their object. But missionaries say that "they 
who preach the gospel should live of the gospel," 
that native ministers have the same claim on Amer- 
ican churches for support as they themselves have, 
and thus unintentionally, no doubt, encourage their 
converts to enter the ministry by the use of money 
inducements. They argue that the Chinese, being 
poor, are not able to give themselves to gospel work 
without foreign aid. In this way their converts are 
brought to look upon the foreign church as being 
both rich and ready to give out of its treasures with- 
out stint to those who become Christians. 

As Dr. Crawford studied this subject with facts 
and Scripture before him, he came more and more 
strongly to believe that healthy, self-perpetuating 
churches could not thus be built up, and that the 
missionaries must be simply the spiritual guides, and 
not the employers of the native ministry. Of course 
the main part of the work must be done by natives, 
but it would be done far more efficiently if voluntary 



216 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

and moderately paid for by the freewill offerings of 
their native membership. 

As Dr. Crawford learned the language and became 
conversant with Chinese character, as he heard the 
occasional remarks made by native Christians and 
heathen in regard to the employment system, and as 
he had frequent applications for church membership 
for the purpose of securing places as preachers, he 
became strongly convinced that foreign money should 
not be used for hiring religious help. 

A native preacher in the employment of a neigh- 
boring mission, once brought a heathen friend and 
introduced him to Dr. Crawford as an applicant for 
church membership and a position as preacher, he 
himself offering to go security for his friend's faith- 
fulness and efficiency. Dr. Crawford asked, "Why 
did you not take him to your own missionary pas- 
tor?" The assistant replied, "We do not need any 
more preachers in our mission at present." Both men 
received a rebuke which they probably did not heed. 
This is given as a specimen of the many place seekers 
who constantly beset missionaries. 

As the members of the Southern Baptist mission 
at Shanghai were then working on the non-employ- 
ment principle, Dr. Crawford met no difficulty from 
this source. But some of their converts were paid 
to preach by other missions, and this threatened se- 
rious consequences. In later years Dr. Yates adopted 
the "native paid agency" system to some extent, but 
some time before his death, he wrote a paper on the 
subject for the Shanghai missionary conference setting 



SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 217 

forth its evils. Among many other strong things 
he says, "What then? Dispense with native assistants 
altogether? By no means. Native assistants, under 
certain scriptural conditions, will become indispen- 
sable factors in the evangelization of the Chinese; but 
after an experiment of thirty years it is manifest that 
they not only will not, but cannot attain to the condi- 
tions required under the present methods. To secure 
the native ministry that will do the work required we 
must reconstruct our whole system and commence 
anew on the basis of voluntary workers; and to do 
this effectively, it will be necessary to cut off abso- 
lutely and forever, not only all claims of the natives 
upon the foreign treasury, but all expectation of 
temporal aid from missions." 

Wang Ping San was engaged in Mrs. Crawford's 
school while yet a heathen, but they did not consider 
this religious employment, as the religious instruction 
of the pupils was in her hands. After Wang's con- 
version Dr. Crawford took him as his teacher of the 
language, but in addition he did a great deal of vol- 
untary preaching. Yet he always felt hampered. 
Friends and strangers would ask him how much he 
received for preaching the foreign doctrine, and he 
found that his sermons were less effective from his 
being in the employment of Dr. Crawford. His posi- 
tion would, no doubt, in process of time have become 
understood. But when in after years he became pas- 
tor of the Shanghai Baptist Church and took pay from 
the mission demoralization began. Dr. Yates often 
complained of his want of aggressiveness. 

'5 



218 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

After removing to Teng Chow the surroundings of 
Dr. and Mrs. Crawford were far more trying. Their 
only male colleague, as well as the Presbyterian mis- 
sion there, engaged extensively in the use of native 
assistants. Moreover, the Chinese did not at first dis- 
tinguish between the foreign missionary and the for- 
eign merchant. The latter having plenty of money 
employed many natives in his business, and so they 
flocked to the missionary in search of money-making 
places, supposing him likewise to be in need of em- 
ployees. When one was found to be religious and 
the other secular, it made no difference to the appli- 
cant, since his religion was in the market the same 
as his muscle. For a long time it seemed impossible 
for Dr. Crawford to convince the applicants that he 
would not pay for religious services. Of course he 
had to use house servants, and occasionally carpenters 
and masons. Some of these became Christians, but 
were taught that such a profession was not a part of 
the work for which they were employed. Such ideas 
degraded Christianity in the eyes of the more respect- 
able people, who consequently held themselves aloof 
from the church — they thought the missionaries were 
buying followers. Some of the servants held the 
opinion that joining the church made their position 
with the missionaries more secure. Dr. Crawford, in 
adopting a different course from his associates, had to 
feel his way as best he could, and arrive at correct 
conclusions through numerous mistakes and along a 
thorny path. 



SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 219 

It was many years before they disbanded their 
boarding schools and saw with clear vision the way 
before them. It afterwards seemed strange to them 
that they had not perceived it earlier, as the Bible 
was before them and was their constant study for light 
on these points. But like the old Jewish Christians, 
the veil of their surroundings dimmed their vision. 
They at last saw clearly that it was not their mission 
to give the heathen the good things and institutions 
of a Christian civilization ready made to their hand. 
Taking the apostolic plan, as they viewed it, they 
would sow the living seed, let it spring up and, guided 
by the Holy Spirit, bear its own fruit. Ripe fruits 
brought from a foreign land and stuck on trees that 
could not produce them would prove a failure to 
the end. When they had placed themselves clearly 
on the self-support basis, there still remained serious 
difficulties in their way. Young missionaries, seeing 
that the apparent prosperity of the employment sys- 
tem was promising greater present results, would 
naturally wish to adopt it. But the two systems can- 
not be successfully carried on side by side, for the 
success of one is the death of the other. 

Dr. Crawford concluded that the only hope for the 
self-support work would be to convince, if possible, 
the Board of its necessity, and thus by the educating 
influence of that body, to disseminate this idea among 
the churches and ministry. It was thought that the 
Board, without using authority, might accomplish 
much, while he, cooperating with them, might lecture 
extensively on the subject among the churches. With 



220 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

this in view, at his own expense, he again visited the 
United States. In passing through Shanghai, he had 
repeated consultations with Dr. Yates who fully agreed 
with him regarding the evils of the subsidy system, 
but not as to the best methods for remedying them. 
Dr. Crawford reached Virginia in August, but the 
members of the Board were mostly away from Rich- 
mond. He had several consultations with Dr. Har- 
ris, President of the Board, who said he was fully 
convinced that self-support principles were right, and 
the only difficulty lay in their practical application. In 
September Dr. Crawford went to Richmond, where he 
remained three months, having repeated interviews 
with the Board and a special committee. But he 
failed in his efforts to secure the sympathy of the 
Board. He next spent three months lecturing on the 
subject to the churches of the South. 

As before stated, Dr. Crawford returned to China 
in 1886, and spent the two following years laboring 
in the city and among the villages around Teng Chow 
and Hwang Hien, deeply studying the difficult prob- 
lems which surrounded him. On March 30, 1889, he 
wrote as follows to Mr. Pruitt, Treasurer of the North 
China mission : 

"Dear Brother: — To-day, by the grace of God, is 
the thirty-seventh anniversary of our arrival in China 
and the beginning of our missionary life. What we 
have passed through during these years will never be 
told in this world. I do not regret having spent my 
life in China, although it has in many respects proved 
a hard one. Beginning in ignorance of the conditions 



SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 221 

of mission work among this strange people, I had to 
feel my way along an unbeaten path. Frequently 
finding myself going wrong, I had to retrace my 
steps and undo what I had done amiss. I have noth- 
ing of which to boast, but many mistakes to deplore. 
On the other hand, I have tried to be faithful to the 
Master and to the spirituality of his kingdom as inter- 
preted by true Baptists. I am quite without self- 
condemnation (so far as my allegiance to him is con- 
cerned), especially since the summer of 1859, when 
in an upper room of the Female Institute of Richmond, 
Virginia, I surrendered to the Lord the last bit of 
personal ambition in connection with my missionary 
work. Since then to do his will has been my only 
conscious motive. Having early taken up views re- 
garding the use of foreign money in mission work 
quite in advance of my associates, and contrary to the 
prevailing custom, I have had to occupy an odious 
position and to maintain a desperate struggle for exist- 
ence throughout most of my career. Being much of 
the time in a minority consisting of one, reaching 
the whole truth of the matter by slow degrees, and 
having had all along to make concessions to my asso- 
ciates, I have never been able to carry out my con- 
victions to a full, consistent practice. Hence my posi- 
tion has been irritating beyond degree. Had I been 
able to seize on the whole truth at my first settle- 
ment in Teng Chow, and carry out my convictions 
squarely into practice, the situation would have been 
infinitely better. I would then at least have pos- 
sessed a fortification of my own. As it was, I could 



222 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

do nothing but skirmish, which was irritating both 
to the missionaries and to the natives. My situation 
as a whole has been one of the hardest that ever fell 
to the lot of mortal man. Like Paul, I have had to 
do not what I would, but what I would not. It has 
not been the position of my choice, but of necessity. 
Forced by outward circumstances over which I had 
no control, I have been compelled to excite pecuniary 
expectations among the people; and forced at the 
same time by my inward Baptist convictions, I have 
been compelled to disappoint and rebuke them. O 
wretched man that I have been! Even Paul knew 
nothing of such a trial. And may all others be 
spared it. 

"There are (so far as I now can see) only three 
positions which a Chinese missionary can possibly 
take upon this question. First, so to live as not to 
excite pecuniary expectation. Second, so to live as 
to excite and then to disappoint them (my case). 
Third, so to live as to excite and gratify them. About 
these I will write at a future time, as I now have 
other things to mention. 

"I am now nearing my sixty-ninth year, and begin- 
ning to feel the effects of age and past troubles. For 
many reasons of a physical, mental and spiritual char- 
acter, I now wish to retire at my own charges from 
all future responsibility, leaving this field with its 
interests in the hands of the Board and the denomina- 
tion. I shall therefore draw no more money from 
its treasury for my own use, except the interest due 
on the cost of my house. . . . 



SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 223 

"I do not mean by this course of action to resign 
or to sever my connection with the Board or mission, 
but only to retire from the service. Being no longer 
able to discharge the incumbent duties, I desire to 
retire from them and to look after my health. My 
retirement is not designed to affect the status or work 
of my wife in any way whatever; and she will con- 
tinue to draw her half of our salary ($515.00), with 
appropriations for her work as usual (though in her 
own name), and continue to labor in this field while it 
shall be her pleasure to do so. . . 

"In conclusion let me say that, with high respect 
for every member of our Shantung mission, and with 
perfect agreement with them in regard to missionary 
work, I retire from active labor, but not from active 
interest in them personally and in this great mission 
field. Neither do I propose to retire from the work 
of the Master, but expect to serve him faithfully to 
the end. Only profound convictions of my duty to 
his cause and my own health influence me in this 
course. Asking the love and prayers of all, I remain, 

"Yours fraternally, 

"T. P. Crawford." 

To this Mr. Pruitt sent the following reply, in 
part, dated April 2, 1889: 

"Dear Dr. Crawford: — Your letter announcing 
your intention to go to the United States was not a 
surprise. I am truly sorry for the necessity. Our 
prayers shall follow you that this step may be the 
means of your complete recovery. It is doubtless 



224 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

wise for you to give up work for a time. Mingling 
with people of your own race is more helpful than 
life in China, and I really envy you the pleasure of 
meeting brethren in many places and seeing more of 
our Father's work. . . . 

"With reference to the main subject of your letter 
I have this to say, that no doubt you have had a hard 
time. Work in China at the best is no royal road. 
In a sense, you were pioneers both at Shanghai and 
at Teng Chow. What that means we who have come 
later can never know, but it certainly means physical 
hardships as well as that which is harder to bear, the 
strain on the mind from the newness of everything. 
One is like a blind man groping his way along with 
great difficulty. As the blind man's mind guides him 
nearer and nearer to his destination, so the divine 
mind has guided you, his aged servants, in this land. 
Of course you have not accomplished all that you 
wanted to — no one ever did that. But your work has 
been great. Work is measured, of course, by the 
amount of effort put forth, and the rewards of our 
Father are given according to this true measure. It 
matters not whether your work has been appreciated 
by men ("Seek not honor one of another"), for heart 
work is spiritual, not formal. The monuments of such 
a work are in men's hearts, and not in the institutions 
left behind them. Christianity, the greatest teaching, 
is simple and plain and scarcely at all formal, and 
men have never-ending discussions about its externals. 
But the true union exists all along, that of spirit, of 
life. Judged by this test, your work has been far 



SERIOUS QUESTIONS. 225 

from a failure, and many will rise up in the better 
world to call you blessed. I am sure every one, both 
in America and China, honors you for the work you 
have done. I know that I do. Men have a profound 
philosophy in rejecting most cordially your views of 
self-support. The greatest part of life is in other 
directions; but I think you are mistaken in saving 
your position has been odious. To all real lovers of 
the Lord I am sure it has not been so. Even Mr. - — — 
has a most profound respect for the truth that lies 
on the other side, but remember that success is on the 
side opposed to your views. This success is imme- 
diate, and in some cases very far-reaching. While I 
believe in self-support most firmly, and can go on 
no other theory, I am bound to admit the good in 
other theories and modify all my statements in ac- 
cordance therewith. Self-support is practiced in an 
infinitesimally small degree in all the world. We 
must practice it, otherwise we pamper the Chinese at 
their weakest point, which is fatal. . . . 

"Yours fraternally, 

"C W. Pruitt." 

Mrs. Crawford, busy with the pressing work around 
her, and not much accustomed to theorizing, had 
given but little attention to the home methods, and did 
not realize the full import of Dr. Crawford's action, 
or the thoughts that were then beginning to take 
shape in his mind. 



CHAPTER XXL 

WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BOARD. 

When Dr. Crawford arrived in Shanghai early in 
1889 on his way to the United States, he found the 
Southern Baptists of the Central China mission (in- 
cluding the stations Shanghai, Su Chow and Chin- 
kiang) earnestly discussing a new departure. They 
were unanimous in thinking that the salary allowed 
them by the Foreign Mission Board was larger than 
was needed for a comfortable support. Some were in 
favor of reducing the salary and also of adopting the 
native dress and modified Chinese dwellings, hoping 
thereby to get nearer the people. Dr. Crawford was 
invited to join in the discussions and heartily respond- 
ed. Prior to 1886 the salary allowed by the Board 
had been nine hundred ounces of silver, or the equiv- 
alent at that time of one thousand and thirty dollars 
for a man and his wife. In that year the amount was 
raised to twelve hundred dollars, but Dr. Crawford 
had not only never accepted the whole twelve hun- 
dred dollars, but was unwilling to do so. It is a rare 
occurrence to see a man, even a minister of Jesus, 
decline to receive an increase in his salary. 

The Central China missionaries corresponded with 
those of Northern and Southern China, and received 
various replies. The southern missionaries were op- 
posed to wearing the native dress. For twenty years 
Dr. Crawford, in accommodation to Chinese ideas, had 



WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BOARD. 227 

adopted a long loose coat, and the most of the North 
China missionaries had for some years been wearing 
the native costume. The Bosticks and Miss Knight, 
passing through Shanghai soon after, going to North 
China, thought it would be best to test the matter of 
salary before deciding. They and others in the 
north did, after trial, reduce their salaries. Later the 
Chinkiang missionaries returned to the full salary 
and to European dress. 

During Dr. Crawford's absence in Texas, April, 
1889, to June, 1890, the religious services in his chapel 
were principally conducted by Deacon Chang and other 
native members. Occasionally Mr. Pruitt visited 
them from Hwang Hien, and preached and admin- 
istered the Lord's Supper. Mr. Bostick, who arrived 
in July, 1889, was soon able to administer the ordi- 
nances. Early in 1890 he baptized two men and one 
woman, but was still, on Dr. Crawford's return, not 
sufficiently at home in the language to preach, and 
the latter found it necessary to again take charge of 
the church for a while, Mr. Bostick gradually relieving 
him as time wore on. The native Christians seeing a 
strong, aggressive young man going in and out before 
them, began to gather fresh courage and to go for- 
ward. 

Before going to China Mr. Bostick was in favor 
of fostering native self-support, and grew firmer in 
these convictions by what he saw on the field. Mr. 
Pruitt, as seen from his letter quoted in last chapter, 
believed in and was working on these lines, and so 
also was Miss Moon. The Leagues, Misses Knight, 



228 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Barton, and Thornton, though not yet entered 
upon active work, were in favor of the self-support 
principles. In September, 1890, they all were in Teng 
Chow for a short while, where they had daily meetings 
for praise and prayer for blessings on their counsels 
and efforts. To promote facility in their labors and 
for a better understanding of each other's position, it 
was suggested that their views be expressed in writing, 
which, after full discussion, was unanimously agreed 
upon. 

As previously mentioned, Dr. Crawford had re- 
turned from America invigorated in health, and now, 
seeing the whole mission heartily united in laboring 
according to self-support methods, his strain of mind 
and spirit was greatly relieved; still his thoughts led 
him on to other Scriptural conclusions. While in 
Texas he had conversed with various persons and had 
advocated the idea of local churches appointing and 
supporting their own missionaries. One friend said, 
"No use to talk about that. You can't make a ripple." 
What he saw and heard in various places certainly 
did not promise much toward decentralization, but ev- 
erything pointed in the other direction with accelera- 
ting speed. Mr. Bostick was still a member of Dr. 
Crawford's household, and they held frequent conver- 
sations on this and kindred subjects, in which Mrs. 
Crawford often joined. She says this was really the 
beginning of her giving serious attention and study 
to the centralization drift in Baptist churches. 

Miss Moon's long contemplated visit home for rest 
was still deferred until some missionary should settle 



WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BOARD. 229 

at Ping Tu, where Miss Knight resided alone. In 
1891 Mr. and Mrs. League went to occupy that place, 
and Miss Moon, in company with the Pruitts, stalled 
for the homeland. The Hwang Hien station was thus 
left for more than a year without an occupant. In 
October of that year Mr. King came for Hwang Hien, 
and Mr. and Mrs. Sears for Ping Tu. But as they 
must all study the language before going to work, 
and as it was not deemed prudent for a newcomer to 
be alone at a station, Mr. King decided to remain 
a year at Teng Chow. Shortly after the arrival of 
these three, Mr. Bostick and Miss Thornton were mar- 
ried at Teng Chow by Dr. Crawford, the United 
States consul kindly consenting to go up and be pres- 
ent at the ceremony, rather than require their pres- 
ence at Chefoo for that purpose. 

A letter had been received during the summer, say- 
ing that a church in North Carolina had decided to 
support a missionary in North China. Dr. Crawford 
was so much pleased that he wrote a letter to the 
pastor of this church, warmly advocating this way of 
sending missionaries. He also wrote similar letters 
to various other persons, and finally to promote this 
idea produced his tract, Churches, To the Front! 
which was published early in 1892. Mr. Bostick 
about this time concluded to send his resignation to 
the Board and throw himself upon God and the 
churches, as local bodies, for a support, which he and 
Mrs. Bostick, a true helpmeet, did on January 12, 
1892. 



230 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

In the spring of 1891 Mr. Herring made a tour to 
the far interior province of Si Chuen. There were so 
many missionaries in Shanghai and other coast ports, 
and he longed to give the gospel to the regions be-r 
yond. He also desired to get away, if possible, from 
the subsidy method so prevalent around him. He 
found the field he sought, and returned with his desires 
strengthened. The Board was hardly in a condition 
to open a new station with sufficient force to man it 
so far up the great river. Mr. Herring, therefore, 
decided to visit the United States and make a special 
effort to gather a band of young men for this distant 
field. He wished Mr. Bostick to join this band, and 
requested him not to be in a hurry to carry out his 
purpose to resign. It was hoped that Mr. Herring, 
by seeing the Board in person, might induce them to 
foster the enterprise and transmit funds direct from 
a supporting church to its missionary, according to the 
instructions of the Southern Baptist Convention at 
Richmond in 1859. In February of 1892 Mr. Herring 
made a short visit to Teng Chow, bringing with him 
a Swedish Baptist missionary who was anxious to 
settle in cooperating distance of Baptists laboring on 
self-support lines. Mr. Herring found the mission- 
aries at Teng Chow in sympathy with his designs and 
ready to await his action before taking further steps. 
On returning to Shanghai, being as he believed led 
of the Spirit, he decided to proceed to the United 
States immediately, and sailed in March. It is hardly 
necessary to state here that on reaching Richmond 
he failed to receive the Board's approval of his plans, 



WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BOARD. 231 

and so offered his resignation. After his deep afflic- 
tion in the death of his wife and two children, fol- 
lowed by a long illness of himself, he began his cam- 
paign to find a band of young men for the field and 
churches to send and support them. By this time Dr. 
Crawford's name had been dropped from the roll of 
missionaries on account of his tract, Churches, To 
the Front! And as Mrs. Crawford's name had been 
retained she, in July, 1892, sent her resignation to the 
Board. A few months later Mr. League's connection 
with the Board was also severed on account of his 
unacceptable views. 

When Mrs. Crawford's resignation was offered it 
was not the intention of the Crawfords to leave Teng 
Chow. They expected to go on doing the same work 
as before, which would of course go in the Board's 
name. They were working for the Lord, and felt 
that their race was almost run, and they cared not 
who might claim the results. They were members of 
the Teng Chow Baptist Church, which was composed, 
in the main, of their spiritual children, and they saw 
no reason why they should not still labor to build it 
up, and to gather new converts in the country around 
like its other members. Mr. King, though still with- 
out sufficient command of the language to preach, had 
moved to Hwang Hien, leaving only the Crawfords, 
Bosticks and Miss Barton in the work at Teng Chow. 
They felt that the seeds they had sown these thirty 
years should not be left uncared for. At the same 
time Mrs. Crawford had said in her published article 
about her resignation that, if Providence so indicated, 



232 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

they were ready to go to the ends of the earth. The 
Board, through Dr. Tupper, wrote to Dr. Crawford 
asking information in regard to the property of the 
Southern Baptist Convention at Teng Chow and the 
other Shantung stations. Dr. Crawford in reply gave 
him a careful statement of all their property, and 
referred to the written agreement in regard to the 
house in which he lived. In April, 1893, a letter from 
the Treasurer of the Board asked Dr. Crawford if 
he would not keep the house and release the Board 
from their obligation to take it, stating that the Board 
would probably not need it for their work. He re- 
plied that he did not wish to own property in Teng 
Chow, and that the house would be delivered to them 
whenever the Board desired it. 

In the meantime, those on the field had been cor- 
responding with Mr. Herring, and suggested that it 
would be best for his band and the six retired mis- 
sionaries to unite their forces and occupy some inte- 
rior region west of Chefoo, thence proceeding, when 
they should grow strong enough, to the southwest 
even as far as Si Chuen. 

Their own leaving Teng Chow would depend upon 
circumstances. They could learn nothing definite in 
regard to the Board's designs, but caught only an 
inkling here and there. It was whispered that the 
Board would withdraw from North China, then that 
they would retain Ping Tu, but give up Teng Chow 
and Hwang Hien. Under these conditions how could 
the missionaries decide on their course? For on the 
one hand they did not believe it right to leave Teng 



WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BOARD. 233 

Chow and Hwang Hien uncared for, and on the 
other hand they had already found that it would not 
be best to labor in direct connection with the Board's 
missionaries. In any event should Mr. Herring and 
his party join them some of them would enter the in- 
terior, but the details could not be decided until after 
his arrival. 



16 



CHAPTER XXII. 

BREAKING UP. 

As years went on, the mission in North China being 
a unit on self-support, the native Christians with few 
exceptions adjusted themselves to it. They were like- 
wise showing signs of real life and aggressiveness, 
but the exceptions were mostly those who had been 
trained in the boarding schools. These felt that the 
mission owed them not only permanent employment 
for themselves, but also the education of their chil- 
dren, some of whom were now large enough to enter 
school. They had supposed that Dr. Crawford's pe- 
culiar views on this subject would die with him (and 
he was growing old), and that the young missionaries 
could be induced to see the advantages of a liberal 
use of money in their operations. Finding, however, 
that the young missionaries were firmly fixed in these 
principles and practices some of them became restless, 
while others outwardly acquiesced in the inevitable. 
A number had come into the church since the great 
change in 1883, and these, with some of the staunch 
older members, seemed really to appreciate the self- 
support methods and the reasons therefor. At the 
meeting of the Teng Lai Association, held at Saling 
near Ping Tu in November, 1892, some earnest ad- 
dresses were made by several of the native brethren, 
which were reported in the Foreign Mission Journal 
by the missionaries present. Deacon Keang said in 



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DR. AND MRS. CRAWFORD IN 1893, ABOUT THE 
TIME THEY LEFT THE BOARD 



BREAKING UP. 235 

substance, "In former days it was thought that it re- 
quired foreign money to make the Christian religion 
prosper. But by degrees a different state of affairs 
has come on. Now look around and see the brethren 
all working with vigor and hope, and our religion pros- 
pering as never before." One of the Crawford stu- 
dents heartily responded to this address, and the mis- 
sionaries present were greatly pleased with the drift 
of the sentiment, though the leading member of the 
Saling Church did not acquiesce. At his first visit to 
a missionary several years before, while yet a heathen, 
he had proposed that he would join the church if well 
paid as a preacher. But being rebuked for his mer- 
cenary view of the matter, he took the hint and after- 
wards said but little directly on this line. Still there 
were indications, both before and after his baptism, 
that with eternal life he also wished some pecuniary 
advantages from his connection with the church. He 
said in a speech at this association that the Saling 
Church must have a chapel and school, meaning of 
course with foreign money. But Mr. League's patient, 
faithful teachings on this subject brought even this 
brother to acknowledge that self-support was the 
healthier way, as seen in its results. The various out- 
posts around Teng Chow and Hwang Hien were ad- 
vancing in Christian character, and much voluntary 
work for the Lord was being performed by the native 
Christians. In the city of Teng Chow many prejudices 
had been lived down by the missionaries through pa- 
tient intercourse with the people. Mrs. Crawford was 
welcomed to the homes on every hand, and Dr. Craw- 



236 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

ford, with his long white beard, became so well known 
from his constant street preaching that the women 
began to invite them both together to their houses. 
In warm weather when the street doors would be 
open, groups of women and children in the shady 
court yards would ask Mrs. Crawford as she passed 
to stop and tell them the gospel. A dozen mission- 
ary women might have found ample work in the fields 
open to her. Dr. Crawford's daily street sermons 
were expected by both the men and the women. In 
the villages their visits were equally welcome. Mr. 
Bostick also found warm responses to his plans for 
voluntary work and willing sacrifices for the Master. 
Mrs. Bostick regularly taught the gospel to the daugh- 
ters of Christians and other girls, and was greatly 
beloved by them. Miss Barton also labored much 
among the women and girls of the city and country, 
sometimes accompanying Mrs. Crawford, and some- 
times being accompanied by a native Christian woman. 

The issues in the home land that were so agitating 
the minds of the missionaries did not interfere with 
their labors on the field, for these differences could 
not be discussed intelligently with the natives, hence 
they were ignorant that anything unusual was going 
on until the crisis came. Indeed, it is doubtful if 
many of the native Christians ever did understand the 
principles which led to the retirement of this band 
from their old field. 

About this time the Board asked the North China 
missionaries if they would be willing to be transferred 
to some other field. Dr. and Mrs. Crawford were 



BREAKING UP. 237 

thus left in a state of perplexity in regard to the 
course they ought to pursue. Mr. League, of Ping 
Tu, was urging them to go west with him, believing 
that the field occupied by them would not be given up 
by the Board. He accordingly took a journey as far 
as Chu Ching, prospecting in that region. The Craw- 
fords themselves had long wished that they might en- 
ter some of the vast unevangelized portions of the 
interior, but did not feel it right to leave Teng Chow 
and the surrounding country uncared for. 

But their perplexity was suddenly cut short in the 
latter part of June, 1893, by seeing in the reported 
proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, at 
Nashville, that Dr. J. B. Hartwell, who had been 
eighteen years in America, had been reappointed to 
North China, and that he would sail in the late fall 
with ten of the most promising young pastors in the 
south. This announcement decided the question of 
removal for the Crawfords and Bosticks. By the late 
autumn they could vacate their house and find a rest- 
ing place elsewhere until a suitable new place could 
be opened. The Leagues at Ping Tu offered Dr. 
and Mrs. Crawford a home with them until the Board 
should need their house. As the people at Ping Tu 
were accustomed to foreigners, they could rent houses 
there, and thus be nearer their prospective field. By 
this time those of the new movement, or the retired 
missionaries as they were called, acting on common 
principles and bound together by common suffering, 
had acquired the name of the Gospel Mission. It was 
pretty well understood that Mr. Herring, with several 



238 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

new recruits, would join them in Shantung, with an 
eye to enlargement toward the southwestern part of 
the empire. 

Dr. Hartwell reached Teng Chow in August, and 
was expected to occupy the Crawfords house. It was 
not until this time that the missionaries informed the 
native Christians of the condition of things, and men- 
tioned the points at issue between the Gospel Mission 
and the Board. The following is taken from a letter 
written by Mrs. Crawford to Miss Moon in Virginia, 
July, 1893, which shows how they viewed the situa- 
tion: 

"Yours of June 16 came by last mail. I was so 
glad to find that you have decided to come back here. 
It greatly lessens my sorrow at leaving these dear 
women for whom I have, figuratively, shed my heart's 
blood. You will have your own work in the Lung 
San Tien region, but I know you will not allow my 
Buh Go region to lie waste. Then there are the 
Christians out at the deacon's village ; and in the east, 
Chin ta sao, and also at Tsung Kia, Tu Wu, and 
other places. You will love and care for these as no 
one else can after I go away, for they are yours as 
well as mine. It would not be wise to divide the old 
work here. When we leave we leave all the Chris- 
tians and the station to our successors. To do other- 
wise would be vexatious and injurious, indeed impos- 
sible. The best interests of the work are what we 
desire, and not personal conveniences or claims. God 
forbid that we should ever allow any selfish considera- 
tions to become a source of division among these na- 



BREAKING UP. 239 

tive Christians. The one great grief is not that our 
spiritual children should have other pastors and guides, 
but that the principle of self-support for which we 
have struggled and suffered these thirty years, should 
in this region be swept out of existence and the subsidy 
system come in like a great wave. Of course, this 
latter policy will bring in the converts and make suc- 
cess, especially now after all these years of seed sow- 
ing, and the very fact will be used to prove it the 
successful or best method. Affairs here had just been 
firmly established on the self-support basis, the native 
brethren had nearly all accepted it or had left us, and 
the new ones who were coming in took it as a matter 
of course. We were all expecting the incoming of a 
better day. Three have lately been baptized, others 
are applying, and many more will soon follow. Of 
course, the hope of material profits will hasten in 
these and many others. The two policies cannot well 
go side by side. But we are able to give up all these 
cares into God's hands. We have fought a good fight, 
we have kept the faith, we have been true and honest 
to our convictions of duty and to God, and we leave 
it all to Him. 

"When the Board wrote asking Mr. Crawford to 
release them from their obligations about the house, 
he did not feel that he could do so. It would be a 
dead loss, as of course we should have to make a home 
elsewhere. This has become a very dear home to us. 
Every brick and stone, every tree and the very grass 
is twined around our daily lives, and when we look 
on that side it breaks our hearts to go. And when 



240 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

we look on these people, our spiritual children, the 
anguish is keener still. But when we view the other 
side and see that God points another way and calls 
us to a higher duty, we go out with joy and thanks- 
giving. Only lately have these people found out our 
purpose to leave. How could we tell them? The 
milkman's wife cries every time I see her, so bitterly. 
'Never mind/ I tell her, 'others will. come and look 
after you just as well/ And she replies, 'But others 
will not be my mother/ The deacon's wife, too, came 
from the country and wept. Mrs. Wang, Chin ta 
sao, and others from a distance do not yet know it. 
We have not yet decided on our future field, but as 
soon as the cool days of autumn come on some of 
the brethren will go out in search of one." 

Mr. King had been interested in these discussions 
and transpiring events. He believed in self-support 
on the field, but hesitated to disturb his relations at 
home. In the summer of 1892 he wrote an earnest 
letter to the Board, showing how self-support had, 
after long struggles and many difficulties, been suc- 
cessfully established in North China and was promis- 
ing good results for the future, for the fruits were 
already ripening. This was the only field, he said, 
in which the Board had worked on this line, and he 
besought them to set it apart for a fair test. After 
waiting several months Dr. Tupper wrote him that 
Mr. Pruitt, who was then returning to China, would 
reply in person for them. The real reply to Mr. 
King's request was to start work on the opposite plans. 
Mr. King, with his logical, sanctified mind, took hold 



BREAKING UP. 241 

of the questions at issue with deep convictions of their 
importance, and in September, 1893, sent his resigna- 
tion to the Board to take effect January 1, 1894. 

Early in August, 18^3, Dr. Hartwell reached Che- 
foo and sent a note informing Dr. Crawford that he 
had arrived and had authority from the Board to pay 
for his house, and that he would soon be in Teng 
•Chow. Dr. Hartwell went to Hwang Hien to hold 
a meeting of the mission. At this meeting he was 
authorized to occupy Dr. Crawford's house, and Miss 
Barton to occupy the one in which the Bosticks were 
living. 

He then went to Teng Chow and tendered the 
money due on Dr. Crawford's house, which was at 
once accepted, and they agreed to vacate the house 
by the middle of September. In a will written many 
years before, Dr. Crawford had bequeathed the house 
to the Board, and his library and household effects to 
the missionary who should succeed him. The course 
of the Board toward native self-support led to the 
destruction of this will, and also to the withdrawal of 
ten of its most substantial missionaries. But they 
hoped that what was a loss to the Board would prove 
a continual gain to the churches and to the cause of 
Baptist missions. 

Having only a month's time, they were kept busy 
making arrangements to vacate, and to go they knew 
not whither in the end. Dr. Crawford and his wife 
made a farewell visit to Buh Go and the surrounding 
villages. The Christians and friends were inconsol- 
able. They wept and pleaded that if they saw fit to 



242 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

leave the city of Teng Chow they should settle in 
their town, and that they would give them house 
room until a suitable residence could be procured. 
They said they would also aid in supporting them. 
Old Mr. Wang, weeping, said, "Now that the seed 
you have been sowing all these many years is begin- 
ning to spring up, behold you leave it to go to waste." 
Intending to go into the interior of the province, it 
was necessary for the missionaries to dispose of their 
household effects, which were the accumulations of 
more than forty years. As the few missionaries at 
Teng Chow were well supplied with such things, there 
was only the forlorn hope of selling to the Chinese. 
The various articles, made mostly by Chinese carpen- 
ters after American patterns, were priced and labeled, 
and the sale took place, and all were surprised to 
find the Chinese suddenly seized with a desire to 
possess foreign furniture. The better pieces were 
sold to the mandarins or the rich, and the more ordi- 
nary to the common people. Their books, crockery, 
clothing and some other things were carefully packed 
in boxes. This sale and packing required many days' 
labor, during which Chinese friends were almost 
hourly calling, and as the hosts had no time to sit 
down they conversed as they went about attending 
to their sad duties. Many of the Chinese assisted 
them, and old acquaintances from all parts of the city 
came to make parting visits. Mrs. Wang, of Buh 
Go, spent the last week with them, tenderly aiding 
in various ways. The Bosticks and the Crawfords, 
as already mentioned, were going together, and they 



BREAKING UP. 243 

decided to leave on the thirteenth of September. The 
tenth was their communion season, and as it was to 
be their last one in the church at Teng Chow, many 
of the members from the country went in to spend 
some days with them. In the evenings they had sweet 
meetings in Dr. Crawford's study. The members ex- 
pressed grief at their departure, praying in tears for 
their future welfare and usefulness. Some were so 
desirous that a part of this band of missionaries should 
remain and lead them on in the old lines, that the 
Crawfords again seriously considered the matter and 
consulted with the Bosticks and Mr. King. But view- 
ing the question all around they feared that strife 
would be the result, and decided that the Master's 
cause would be best served by their entire withdrawal 
from the field. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 

Their party reached Ping Tu on the sixteenth of 
September, Mr. and Mrs. Sears and Miss Knight, 
of the Board's mission, were residing there at that 
time. Mr. and Mrs. League were living in a house 
rented and repaired with funds from the Board, 
which, as it was not then needed by any of the Board's 
missionaries, they were allowed to occupy on condi- 
tion that they themselves paid the rent. The Craw- 
fords stopped with the Leagues, and the Bosticks with 
the Sears family. As soon as the roads would permit, 
Dr. Crawford and Mr. Bostick started for Chu Ching, 
a large district city eighty miles to the southwest, in 
search of a new and separate field for the Gospel 
Mission. Mr. League had previously visited this city, 
and all three were well pleased with it. They met 
there an old acquaintance, Mr. Ma, whom they em- 
ployed to rent a house for them. They then went to 
Ku Cheo, farther to the southwest, but not liking the 
prospects there they returned by way of Kiao Chow, 
where were located some Swedish Baptist mission- 
aries. They returned "to Ping Tu after an absence of 
three weeks. About two weeks later Mr. Ma arrived, 
saying that he could get a house a mile from Chu 
Ching city, and bringing with him a description of the 
house with probable terms. He was sent back with 
certain propositions to the owner, while Dr. Crawford 




THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OF TAI SH4N 

AT WHOSE FOOT THE CRAWFORDS LIVED SIX YEARS 




THE GOD WORSHIPPED ON TOP OF TAI SHAN 



SEEKING NEW FIELDS, 245 

and Mr. Bostick went to Kiao Chow to await his re- 
port. In a few days Mr. Ma, accompanied by the 
son of the widowed landlady, arrived and an agree- 
ment was soon drawn up. Dr. Crawford went with 
the two men to pay the money and take possession of 
the house. But, alas for Chinese bargains! The 
young man refused to carry out his promise, and it 
was found that the whole transaction was a scheme 
to press a relative into taking the house at a higher 
price than he was willing to give. While this was 
going on at Chu Ching, the Bosticks and Mrs. Craw- 
ford got their baggage in order for removal, and 
anxiously awaited Dr. Crawford's message advising 
them to join him. As it was now December and 
stormy weather was daily expected, they decided not 
to wait longer for a message but proceed on the jour- 
ney. A cart with most of their effects was started 
off in advance, they expecting to follow next day, 
when Dr. Crawford unexpectedly returned, saying 
there had been a total failure to get the house, and 
that further efforts under the circumstances would be 
futile. 

A bargain was immediately closed for a house in 
Ping Tu, which had been offered them some time 
previously. A few repairs were made, and on De- 
cember 13, 1893, the Crawfords and Bosticks moved 
into it. It was a severe disappointment to them to 
relinquish for the winter all prospects of entering a 
new field, but they accepted it as an ordering of the 
Divine Father, and felt that they could work for him 
anywhere in that heathen land. They gave them- 



246 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

selves to preaching on the streets and in the villages, 
and at the Sunday morning services, which were held 
in turn at different Christians' houses. The ladies 
visited the women in their homes, or presented the 
gospel to them at the mission homes to which they 
came in numbers. Repeated excursions were made to 
the villages in company with Miss Knight, and gospel 
seed were sown in various ways. 

On December 24, Messrs. Herring, Blalock, Royall 
and Crocker reached them from the home land to unite 
their labors with the six Gospel Mission workers al- 
ready at Ping Tu. Mr. King also joined their band 
early in that month. And during the winter they 
had many precious meetings for prayer, praise, and 
consultation. Further efforts were made to secure 
houses in the Chu Ching region, but without success. 

Miss Knight herself was strongly in favor of self- 
support methods, and now waited to see if these would 
be continued in the Ping Tu field. She inquired of 
various members of her mission in regard to their 
proposed future policy, but received replies which left 
her in doubt until she heard from the Saling Chris- 
tians that several innovations were to be inaugurated. 
Subsidy was about to be introduced, and she would 
have no power to prevent it, so she decided to work 
with the Gospel Mission. She united with the band 
of eleven in their printed appeal for one hundred new 
laborers. At the same time she wrote to her support- 
ing churches of the Chowan Association, North Car- 
olina, and asked them to support her directly instead 
of through the Board. She also sent a copy of this 
letter to the Biblical Recorder and one to the Board. 



SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 247 

In February Messrs. Herring and King made an 
extensive journey to examine into a wide unevange- 
lized region lying in the western end of the province, 
which they found to contain seven districts, or coun- 
ties, with a population of about two million, and only 
one station occupied by Protestant missionaries. After 
general consultation, it was unanimously decided to 
settle in the various parts of this field as soon as 
practicable. Messrs. Herring and Blalock set out at 
once for Taianfu, the prefectural city, Mr. King to 
Hsin Tai, while Dr. Crawford and Mr. Crocker 
started on April 14 for Lai Wu city thirty miles to 
the east of Taianfu. After a wearisome journey of 
two weeks, including a few days' rest with the Eng- 
lish Baptists at Ching Chow, they reached Lai Wu 
city, which lies on the southern border of a rich and 
beautiful valley. Dr. Crawford was delighted with 
the location, but to his great disappointment was un- 
able to secure lodgings at the inns. He wrote of this 
to his wife : 

"As no suitable inn could be found in the city, we 
thought it best to leave after dinner and go up the 
valley to a large town thirty li distant, where we took 
dinner on the third of May. We then decided to go 
back to Ko Tsze and put up at the large, roomy inn 
just within the west gate of the town, where we had 
taken dinner May first. We entered it just a little 
before sunset on Saturday, and thought we would 
make it our resting place for a week or two at least. 
We also entertained the hope of renting the whole 



248 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

inn for our temporary residence. We liked the posi- 
tion in many respects, and were very happy that night 
in our large airy room, with mind and body well pre- 
pared to enjoy rest from traveling. But lo! the next 
day was held a large market, and crowds of gazers 
all day long rushed into the court and our room 
in spite of the opposition of our host, and our ef- 
forts to keep them out by politeness and door 
shutting were equally unavailing. All this alarmed 
our host and interfered with his business to such 
an extent that he urged us to leave that af- 
ternoon. With great difficulty we obtained his 
permission to remain until early next morning, 
when with sad hearts we set out on the main road 
towards Taian city. We traveled a few miles and 
stopped at a small inn on the east of Fung Tswong 
for breakfast. After breakfast crowds of boys and 
men gathered at the inn and so annoyed our host that 
he also wished us to leave. But the crowd was not 
very great and was respectful and manageable, so we 
were allowed to stay until the cool of the evening. ,, 

After many similar experiences, with still no pros- 
pect of a resting place, they received a letter from 
Mr. Herring asking that they come to Taian, where 
the people seemed comparatively friendly, and they 
set out at once for that place. On arrival they found 
that Mr. Herring had just moved into some rooms of 
his newly rented house. On the next day Dr. Craw- 
ford rented a house adjoining on the west, which he 
and Mr. Crocker occupied at once. Owing to some 
Roman Catholic troubles the public mind was in a 



CD 

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o 
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CO 

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CO 

o 

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O 
CO 

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SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 249 

strong ant i- foreign mood, and there was no probability 
of their being able to enter Lai Wu for some time. 
Thus it seemed best to settle temporarily at Taian, 
and endeavor from it to enter Lai Wu or some other 
suitable station. The house that Dr. Crawford rented 
was an old bean oil factory which was greatly dilap- 
idated, and men were immediately set to work to clean 
and put it into habitable condition. He wrote his wife 
to get ready to join him at an early day. His letter 
however, did not reach her for two weeks, and in the 
meantime the anti-Roman Catholic excitement had 
reached Taian. A flag was hoisted, and placards were 
posted threatening with severe punishment any per- 
son who should rent houses to foreigners, sell them 
provisions or accommodate them in any way. The 
go-betweens in securing the two houses were alarmed, 
and the landlord stopped Dr. Crawford's workmen, 
leaving his repairs incomplete. 

Mrs. Crawford and Mr. Bostick started on the 
twentieth of June, she on a mule litter and he on a 
mule for Taian, leaving Mrs. Bostick and Miss Knight 
at Ping Tu. At Ching Chow, four days from Ping 
Tu, Mrs. Crawford received a letter from her hus- 
band advising her to remain there until further news, 
as the excitement was very great and the hostile flag 
again up. At the end of the next week another letter 
came requesting her to proceed on her journey. She 
and Mr. Bostick again set out from Ching Chow on 
the third of July. At many places unfriendly crowds 
scowled upon them. Sometimes it was impossible to 

get accommodations at the inns, and everywhere cu- 
17 



250 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

rious gazers besieged them; but fully realizing the 
situation and committing themselves to God, they 
brought to the front all their tact, patience and good 
humor, and thus avoided any serious difficulty or de- 
tention. Before reaching the mountain pass they 
feared that the mule litter could not get over it, and 
would have to be taken to pieces, and its occupant 
otherwise transported. They spent a night at the 
foot of the pass in the city of Posan with some native 
Christians of the English Baptist mission, who told 
them that the mules could take the empty litter across 
the pass, and that they could get a sedan to convey 
Mrs. Crawford. So early next morning they started 
over. Mrs. Crawford was carried in the sedan forty 
li to the dinner station, where Mr. Bostick, who had 
preceded her by an hour, told the inn keeper of her 
coming, and impressed upon the bystanders that if 
the women would wait until she could eat and take 
a short rest, they might then go in and see her. The 
door of the room had no shutter, consequently she 
was entirely at the mercy of the crowd. They al- 
lowed her to finish dinner in quiet, then Mr. Bostick 
threw a quilt on the frame of an old bedstead, and 
Mrs. Crawford lay down for a rest. But there was to 
be no rest for her. As the crowds saw the bowls 
from which they had eaten carried out they swarmed 
into the room. An old woman seventy-four years 
of age led the way, and sat down by Mrs. Crawford. 
Seeing there was no chance for rest, Mrs. Crawford 
began talking to the old woman who was delighted 
that she could understand the words. After answer- 



SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 251 

ing the usual questions, where she was going, for 
what, how many children she had, how old she was, 
etc., she began to tell of the Heavenly Father's love 
in sending his Son Jesus to save a lost world. The 
woman and those standing around at once became 
eagerly interested. "Tell me more/' she would say, 
if the speaker paused for a moment. "Tell me more — 
I have never heard such words before. We have met 
this one time, but we shall never meet again. Tell 
me more. I shall not leave you until you start on 
your journey." All weariness was forgotten and, 
with that old woman's hands stroking her head as she 
lay on the bed, they talked until time for her to start. 
The woman promised to look to the Heavenly Father 
for her salvation. Mr. Bostick throughout this trying 
journey, in his efforts to protect Mrs. Crawford from 
the crowds, scarcely got a moments rest for himself. 
Yet he embraced every fitting opportunity to present 
the word of life to the people. 

As they approached the end of their journey, they 
met a man whom Dr. Crawford had sent to conduct 
them into the city so that no unnecessary publicity 
should be given to their arrival. They reached the 
new and strange home at dark on the sixth of July, 
after sixteen days (including the stay at Ching Chow) 
of great fatigue, exposure to the heat, the crowds, the 
rains, and the swollen streams by day, and the attacks 
of countless mosquitoes, fleas and other marauders 
by night. The hostile flag which had been twice 
taken down was up again at the time of their arrival, 
and matters were considered to be in a rather critical 



252 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

state. After two days' stay Mr. Bostick started back 
in the litter that had brought Mrs. Crawford. On 
his return journey he was several times in danger 
from swollen streams and perverse natives, but God 
graciously preserved him through it all. 

The rainy season was at its height. Dr. Crawford's 
rented rooms leaked by the bucketful, and were tem- 
porarily useless. Between rains the weather was ex- 
cessively hot, and the courts had no trees, grass or 
flowers to mitigate its severity. The stopping of the 
workmen had left the repairs incomplete, but Dr. 
Crawford with a hired man from a distance soon put 
certain portions of the house in tolerable order. Ex- 
posure to the sun, worry with the ignorant masons 
and carpenters, besides frightened landlords and va- 
rious other unmanageable surroundings, coming imme- 
diately after his hard journey on the wheelbarrow, 
undermined his strength. In the latter part of July 
he became dangerously ill from a malignant carbuncle 
on the back of his neck connected with other dis- 
orders. The old servant who came from Ping Tu 
with him, though an excellent Chinese cook, could not 
prepare foreign food, especially with the material at 
hand. They had but few cooking utensils, no kitchen 
and no stove, and their native fare was very poor. 
Besides, they were without a woman servant, and 
under all the conditions, both sickness and nursing 
were very trying. Messrs. Herring, Royall and Bla- 
lock next door, and Mr. Crocker in their own house, 
were all ready to help. Mr. Royall was their kind 
physician, and with a consulting visit from good Dr. 



SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 253 

Neal, of Tsinan, carried the case through successfully. 
Five weeks later when Dr. Crawford was beginning 
to recover, Mrs. Crawford was seized with acute dys- 
entary, and had to keep her bed for more than a 
month. Fortunately, a few days before the attack 
she had engaged the services of an old woman who 
seemed to have a gift for nursing, and was a great 
help to them, though she was very hard of hearing; 
and in her weak state Mrs. Crawford could communi- 
cate with her only by signs. There was no foreign 
lady within a two days' journey. But the days 
passed; the gentlemen were kind and attentive, and 
cheered them with their presence and aid, and by 
degrees the sick ones recovered their usual health. 

Before Mrs. Crawford's arrival many people came 
to the house to see the foreigners, and thus a number 
of acquaintances were formed. After the flag was 
hoisted and the placards posted, these visits ceased. 
The street arabs came to annoy the strangers, and 
whenever the missionaries appeared on the streets 
they were hooted at as "foreign devils." Mr. Her- 
ring's south garden wall was down, and many came 
in from that direction howling out opprobrious epi- 
thets. The premises of their western neighbor open- 
ed into their court by a shutterless door which formed 
his only egress to the street. He was a miller, and 
his many customers passed through the Crawfords' 
front court and street door, his children, dogs, chick- 
ens, donkeys, and hired men coming and going at 
pleasure through all their courts. They submitted to 
this inconvenience for five months, and by so doing 



254 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

established friendly relations with their neighbors, or 
at least secured immunity from worse annoyance. Fi- 
nally Dr. Crawford gave the miller a pair of cast-off 
shutters with which he made an outlet of his own to the 
street, and then built up the troublesome doorway. 
After Mrs. Crawford came a number of women vis- 
ited her, among them being a near neighbor who soon 
began to love the gospel. She came repeatedly, and 
often said, "I love to hear your words." To her 
friendship they owed the comparative quietness they 
enjoyed during their long illness. 

The landlord would not show himself, neither would 
he repair the leaking roof nor fulfill his written obli- 
gations. During September and October, the Impe- 
rial Road which passed Dr. Crawford's front door, 
was alive with mandarins on their way to Peking to 
join in celebrating the sixtieth birthday of the Em- 
press Dowager. On that notable occasion, kept as a 
holiday all over the empire, it was the privilege of 
the Christian women of China, both native and for- 
eign, to present her majesty with an elegant copy of 
the New Testament in a silver casket. More than 
ten thousand women contributed to this gift, which 
was presented in their name by the American and 
British ministers. On that very day the Emperor 
sent a eunuch of the inner palace to purchase of the 
American Bible Society's agent a copy of the Old 
and New Testaments, and thus the Bible entered the 
imperial household. 

In September Messrs. Herring and Crocker re- 
moved to Tsining Chow, eighty miles southwest of 



SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 255 

Taian, where they had rented a house of the Presbyte- 
rian mission, and about two weeks later Mr. Royall 
joined them. On October 14 Mr. and Mrs. Bostick 
and Miss Knight, to the great joy of all, arrived from 
Ping Tu. The Bosticks soon moved into the east 
house, Messrs. King and Blalock stopping with them, 
while Miss Knight remained with the Crawfords. 

The mandarins had not ceased going up to the cap- 
ital before lines of soldiers began passing by on their 
way to the seat of war with Japan. These soldiers 
arriving sometimes in bodies of several thousands 
gave the missionaries no little annoyance. Each de- 
tachment remained a part of a day and night in their 
immediate neighborhood. As the weather grew cold 
and the inns could not accommodate them all, they 
began to quarter themselves in any house they could 
enter. Wicked mischief-makers would tell them that 
the houses of the missionaries were vacant or that they 
were inns, and repeated efforts were made to force en- 
trance. One night a hundred or more took up quar- 
ters with the missionaries' western neighbor. A part 
of the intervening wall was low, and over this a cou- 
ple of soldiers climbed and demanded that the street 
door be opened to their comrades. With difficulty 
Dr. Crawford convinced them that this was not prop- 
er, and they reluctantly retired. All night they kept 
up loud talking and gambling. Another day some 
soldiers climbed upon the wall of their front court, 
intending to come over, and one of them said, "These 
are perhaps the people we are fighting with, and let 



256 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

us kill them now." But his companion replied, "No, 
these are not the ones," and they desisted. 

At Mr. Bostick's they also made several entrances, 
but finally the district magistrate came in person to 
make inquiries and to assure the gentlemen of his 
protection. He afterwards, at the request of the Unit- 
ed States consul, sent the missionaries a proclamation 
to be posted at their doors commanding every one to 
secure their safety. These irregularities greatly hin- 
dered intercourse with the people. Few would come 
in under the circumstances, and they could not go 
about as freely as they desired. After the magis- 
trate's visit much of the annoyance ceased. However, 
the conduct of the unaccommodating landlords great- 
ly increased the difficulty, so that patience was the 
virtue most in demand. 

In process of time some of the surrounding villages 
received them kindly and listened well to the message. 
Women also invited the lady missionaries into their 
homes. A few persons attended the Sunday preach- 
ing, and gradually friends were made. 

Messrs. King and League made several efforts to 
effect permanent settlements at towns some distance 
from Taian. Failing in this Mr. League brought his 
family to Taian, and for a time they were in the home 
of Dr. Crawford. He succeeded in renting a house in 
a large town, Suei Pei, twenty miles east where he 
moved his family early in December, 1894, 

The end of that year found all twelve of the Gospel 
Mission workers in their chosen fields. In answer to 
their appeal they expected some recruits during the 



li 



SEEKING NEW FIELDS. 257 

following year, and felt encouraged by the steady 
growth of their principles among the home churches. 

During the autumn, after their recovery from their 
severe illness, Dr. and Mrs. Crawford received many 
letters with assurances of sympathy from the native 
church members of Teng Chow, Buh Go, Hwang 
Hien, and Saling. The Wangs and others at Buh Go 
earnestly besought them to return and live there, as 
the climate at Taian evidently did not suit them. And 
if that was not possible, then to return to Ping Tu that 
they might have the hope of seeing them again. In 
the spring of 1894 the two old cousins, Mrs. Wang's 
nephews, had taken the long journey to Ping Tu to 
see the Crawfords once more, one of them walking all 
the way. On parting the older one, seventy-five years 
of age, fell at Dr. Crawford's feet, embraced his knees, 
and burst into a loud wailing, saying, "I shall never 
see my dear old pastor again in this life." 

The heathen about Taian, as in most places, were 
hard and unresponsive, but the Crawfords and their 
colleagues believed firmly that God had a people among 
them. The political horizon was dark and threaten- 
ing. The war with Japan, which took place soon after 
their arrival, had filled the air with wars and rumors 
of wars. But God was their hope and, like the prophet 
Habakkuk, they could say, "Although the fig tree shall 
not blossom, neither shall fruit be found on the vine; 
the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields yield no 
meait; the flocks shall be cut oflf from the fold, and 
there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice 
in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 

The events of several years must be condensed, for 
much was crowded into the last half decade of the life 
of this great and good man. When Dr. Crawford 
went to Taianfu at the age of seventy-three, he felt 
that his life's work was near its close, and that he 
could not take the responsibility of new plans and en- 
terprises. But he went associated with a band of 
young, hopeful, energetic men of determined purpose, 
and cast his lot among them to give what assistance 
he could in the various phases of the work around 
them. 

With Mr. Bostick and Mr. King, who settled with 
him at Taianfu, he made itinerating tours among the 
towns and villages in various directions. He also, 
when at home, constantly found an opportunity to pre- 
sent the gospel to the people of the city. There were 
frequent callers at his house with whom he spent much 
time in heart-burning labors. Besides this he sought 
almost daily hearers on the street or in the open public 
places. This veteran of the cross would rest himself 
on a stone or a piece of timber, where a crowd would 
soon gather around him and listen to his words. A 
man who is now a Christian recently told Mrs. Craw- 
ford that he, with many others, used often to stop in 
front of a little temple, where a hollow square of stone 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 259 

seats formed what Dr. Crawford called one of his 
street pulpits, and listened to his earnest exhortations. 
His long white beard, which was much heavier than 
can be grown by the ordinary Chinese, attracted atten- 
tion and respect. 

During these last years Dr. Crawford wrote few 
letters for the papers. He composed some hymns in 
English and Chinese, and a larger work called a Poem 
for the Churches. His last production in Chinese was 
a baptismal hymn, and the last in English a poem that 
is inscribed on his tombstone at Dawson, Georgia, as 
follows : 

"Dear Jesus, friend above, 

On Thy strong arm I lean; 

In ev'ry trying scene 

I cling to Thee. 

"When earthly hopes depart, 
And friends deceitful prove, 
With unabating love 
I cling to Thee. 

"When darkness shrouds the sky, 
And dangers thick unfold, 
With faith's unwavering hold 
I cling to Thee. 

"When death shall seize my frame, 
And all around give way, 
My ransomed soul shall say 
I cling to Thee. 

"Dear Jesus, Lord above, 
Redeemer of my soul, 
While ceaseless ages roll 
Til cling to Thee." 



260 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

He took a keen interest in the tremendous changes 
that were then beginning to assume proportions in 
China. The Emperor's attempts at radical reform 
were closely studied with hope, mingled with appre- 
hensions of a serious crisis. The reversal of all these 
schemes by the Empress Dowager in 1898, when she 
reinstated the old regime with increased hatred and 
suspicion of things foreign, were also watched with 
lively concern. But none of these things influenced 
his regard for the work upon which his heart was ever 
fixed. Throughout all he encouraged his colleagues 
to prosecute quietly and faithfully their gospel labors. 

When in 1899 the whole atmosphere was filled with 
rumors that all foreigners were to be exterminated, 
the people drew away from the missionaries, and their 
friends among the natives warned them to flee, he was 
still in favor of steadfastly holding on. 

But they were not to be permitted the privilege of 
remaining in their field. The great Boxer storm ap- 
proached nearer and nearer, and the people predicted 
the speedy annihilation of all outsiders. The notorious 
foreign hater, Yu Hsien, a relative of the Empress 
Dowager, was the governor of Shantung Province. 
It was so evident that he was warmly supporting the 
Boxers that, on the demand of England and Germany, 
he was removed, and General Yuan Shi Kai was ap- 
pointed in his place. 

This new governor plainly saw the danger of pro- 
voking a war with western nations, and reversed the 
policy of his predecessor. The Shantung missionar- 
ies were thus delivered from the power of the brutal 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 261 

Yu Hsien. But their deliverance resulted in woe to 
others; for he was immediately made governor of 
Shan Si Province where, during the awful summer of 
1900, having invited the missionaries in his province 
to seek refuge in his place at Tai Yuen Fu, he had all 
the fifty who responded massacred in cold blood, he 
himself with his own hands aiding in the diabolical 
work. 

Shortly after Yuan Shi Kai took the seals of office 
as governor of Shantung, an army of European-drilled 
soldiers arrived at Taianfu to protect the missionaries, 
but not in time to prevent some outbreaks and one 
most brutal and atrocious murder. For as they en- 
tered the city an English missionary, Rev. Sidney 
Brooks, left for his station fifty miles to the west, and 
was cruelly murdered on the way, December 30, 1899, 
by a band of Boxers who were seeking out and de- 
stroying all Christian villages, both Catholic and 
Protestant. The missionaries at Taianfu heard this 
news January 1, 1900. It threw the people into a 
state of intense excitement. General Kiang, in com- 
mand of the troops there, and members of his staff 
visited all the missionaries in Taianfu in a most public 
way, and assured them of the protection of the govern- 
ment and the army. He invited the missionary gentle- 
men to be present at a grand parade, and on their ar- 
rival at the grounds (officers having been sent to es- 
cort them) the General descended from his dais, 
greeted them with great cordiality and conducted them 
up to seats beside himself in the presence of thousands 
of spectators. 



262 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Thus it became known that it was the governor's in- 
tention to protect foreigners. But news continued to 
come from the north showing unmistakably that the 
Boxers had sympathy and substantial aid from the 
throne. The people seeing friendliness at Taianfu 
and hostility from above, began to whisper loudly that 
many of the soldiers were secretly Boxers and might 
at any convenient moment turn against their officers 
and massacre the foreigners. 

About this time a band of robbers who had been 
hiding for generations in the mountains some miles to 
the southeast of the city, came out two hundred strong 
and attacked a small town containing a large number 
of Roman Catholics. The German priest had aided in 
arming and training the villagers, and they made a 
stout defense, repulsing the robbers with some loss. 
All day long the fight continued, and the excitement in 
Taianfu became intense. Many said that the soldiers 
from the city had gone out to put down the robbers, 
while others said they were doing this for a blind and 
were in reality only there to destroy the Christians; 
it was impossible to find out the true state of affairs. 

Soon after the murder of Mr. Brooks, many of the 
servants of the missionaries left them, and they found 
it difficult to procure the necessaries of life. At the 
height of the excitement Dr. Crawford discovered that 
his cook, recently engaged, had secretly made a false 
key to his money drawer and had taken, in install- 
ments, bank bills to the value of 25,000 copper cash 
($12.00 United States money). A false key was 
found under his bedding. A corner of it had been 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 263 

broken off , and the small bit was found in the lock of 
the drawer, which had consequently been out of order 
for several days. When faced with the proofs the 
man said, "The proofs seem conclusive, yet I am not 
guilty." His securities, one of them a Christian, said 
if he could be granted ten days' grace the money 
would be forthcoming, and this was agreed to. How- 
ever, ten days passed without the money, and it seemed 
that the whole matter would fall through. If they 
should take it to the district magistrate, it was doubt- 
ful whether he would not yield to public sentiment and 
take the side of the culprit. The cook's friends 
threatened to go in a body and make way with his 
employers and thus relieve the man. So dangers were 
increasing on every hand. But they thought that they 
ought not to be intimidated into condoning so serious 
an offense against public morals. The man was given 
two more days with the assurance that at the end of 
that time, if the money were not returned, the district 
magistrate should be informed of the theft. The 
money was brought within the two days and the cook 
was discharged, without the dreaded necessity of ap- 
pealing to the official. His well deserved punishment 
was never inflicted because there was no means of 
doing so. 

Early in June the news came of the murder of two 
more missionaries in Chili Province, toward which 
Yuan Shi Kai was driving the Shantung Boxers. A 
few days later Mr. King received the following tele- 
gram from Mr. Verity, of the Methodist Episcopal 
mission, who was then in Peking, "Peking perilous. 



264 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Take Barrow and Verity (Mrs. Barrow, M. D., and 
Mr. Verity's wife) to Chinkiang immediately. Advise 
all leave." Mr. King replied asking for particulars, 
but no response came as all communication with 
Peking was immediately cut off. Mr. King and Dr. 
Barrow were engaged to be married and were due a 
furlough to the home land. After much consultation 
it was decided that they should go at once instead of 
carrying out a previously arranged plan for a few 
weeks later. 

So Mr. King left with these ladies June 15. Miss 
Marshall of the Gospel Mission, had already started 
for Shanghai with a family from Tsining. And the 
remainder of the missionaries, Dr. and Mrs. Crawford, 
Mr. and Mrs. Bostick, Mr. and Mrs. Blalock, Mr. and 
Mrs. Dawes, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson and Mr. Tedder, 
including seven children, besides two families of the 
English mission, were still undecided what to do. The 
Blalocks were remaining in Taianfu until they should 
decide upon their future station. The Hudson and 
Dawes families had been living at Tsining, but were in 
Taian for the summer. The Herrings, from Tsining, 
had started northward for the summer and narrowly 
escaped from the Boxers. The Leagues, from Suei 
Pei, were in America on furlough. 

In these six years of hardship and toil this little 
band, by their joint labors, had gathered a little 
church of native Christians, some of whom gave prom- 
ise of future usefulness. And now how could they 
leave them to be persecuted and scattered? But the 
Christians urged the missionaries to leave, saying that 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 265 

they could secure themselves better if foreigners were 
away, and from all appearances this was true. The 
native Christians could hide out, and the opposition 
would die a natural death. Prominent among them 
was a talented, highly cultured young man named 
Chen. He was the clerk of the church, and was zeal- 
ous in proclaiming this new way of eternal life. For 
some months he had held a position in the Imperial 
Chinese Post Office and was fully aware of the condi- 
tions of the country. He told the missionaries that he 
would seek safety, and then if necessary take his 
family southward to a less dangerous place. He left 
Taianfu a day or two before the departure of the mis- 
sionaries, and finally took his family to Chinkiang. 
From there Dr. Crawford heard from him while in 
Shanghai the following September. 

Soon after Mr. King's departure it became apparent 
that traveling on the roads leading to the coast was 
more dangerous to the missionaries than remaining 
in their homes. It had been only about one month 
since the telegraphic station had been opened at Tai- 
anfu, connecting with the main line by a branch wire 
ten miles long. But for this timely providence, it is 
difficult to see how they could have effected an escape. 
Mr. Bostick inquired by telegram of Mr. Fowler, 
United States Consul at Chefoo, whether all should 
remain at their post or try to reach the coast. The 
reply was, "Don't know. Judge for yourself." 

But next day after communicating with the gov- 
ernor, Mr. Fowler telegraphed, "Leave at once. Ur- 
gent." There were rumors that an edict from the 



266 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Empress Dowager had commanded the slaying of all 
foreigners, but the missionaries could get nothing 
certain. They learned later that Governor Yuan had 
received this edict, but instead of executing it, had 
determined to suppress it even at the risk of his own 
life. He requested Mr. Fowler to call all of his nation- 
ality in the province to Chefoo. The consul accord- 
ingly notified them to meet at the provincial capital, 
Tsinan, where Mr. Hamilton of the Presbyterian mis- 
sion would have boats in readiness to convey them 
down a canal to meet a steamer at Yang Kia Ko, and 
thence to Chefoo. Governor Yuan would send a 
guard to see them safely on the steamer. 

Hasty consultations were held on Tuesday, and it 
was decided that all should leave Thursday about day- 
light. As only a small quantity of baggage could be 
taken, Dr. and Mrs. Crawford selected only such arti- 
cles as they thought would be urgently needed. They 
packed two small trunks, two grip sacks, a small box 
of provisions, and the necessary bedding, and were 
ready to start at the appointed time. The district 
magistrate furnished an escort of ten soldiers, sealed 
their several houses with his official seal, and recog- 
nized the watchman left in charge of each. 

About sunrise on Thursday, June 21, 1900, they 
were all gathered at Mr. Bostick's, the most convenient 
starting point, forming with the soldiers, barrowmen, 
chair bearers, missionaries, children and servants, a 
procession of nearly one hundred individuals. 

Along the road to Tsinanfu the people seemed quiet, 
no one offering them harm or insult. No doubt the 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 267 

governor's friendliness was known and most of the 
people would be glad to have the missionaries leave 
rather than to have them massacred. On the road 
before reaching Tsinanfu, they received a message 
from Mr. Hamilton, requesting them not to go to the 
Presbyterian mission in the eastern suburb, nor to 
enter the city, but to pass outside of the western sub- 
urb and to go direct to the landing about two miles 
distant, where the boats were in readiness. He also 
said that some missionaries from other stations were 
already on board. Mr. Murray, meeting them near 
the landing, said to Dr. Crawford, "Well, doctor, I 
am sorry to meet you under such circumstances." The 
characteristically ready reply was, "Why, I am glad 
to see you under any circumstances." 

Before sunset on Friday, June 22, they were well 
under way on the canal in small native boats. Their 
guard had been replaced by fifty of the governor's sol- 
diers, who continued with them until they were safely 
on the steamer several days later. On Monday after- 
noon the boats reached Yang Kia Ko, where they 
found Mr. Cornwell of the Presbyterian mission at 
Chefoo awaiting them. Mr. Fowler had requested 
this gentleman to go on the chartered Japanese 
steamer and make all suitable arrangements for the 
refugees. He had hired two sea junks to convey them 
from the canal boats to the steamer. The latter was 
anchored about twenty miles out to sea because of 
dangerous sand banks. They were soon on board the 
junks, but a strong east wind prevented their setting 
sail until a favorable tide came about midnight. But 



268 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

at daylight they saw that they had made very little 
headway, and all day long, as they were nearing the 
mouth of the river, they tacked back and forth in the 
face of a strong wind and a heavy sea. A severe 
storm of rain came on later and they had only the 
poor protection, in addition to their umbrellas, of mats 
which the boatmen spread above them. And their 
quarters were extremely cramped. Dr. and Mrs. 
Crawford's couch by night was a board about two feet 
wide by five feet long, and this was their only seat by 
day. Wednesday they neared the steamer, but found 
the sea so high that a transfer to it was impossible, 
and with heavy hearts they turned back toward the 
shore, which, with a favorable wind, they reached in a 
short time. As their own and the boatmen's provisions 
were all gone, the occupants of one of the junks were 
under the necessity of fasting until they tied to a fish- 
ing smack and bought of its crew a salt fish and some 
bowls of millet. 

Mr. Cornwell had previously engaged an inn for 
their use on the outward journey, but when they came 
back to it the inn-keeper positively refused to open to 
them until compelled to do so by the guard. Here 
they spent a night and a day waiting for the storm to 
subside, their number being increased during the day 
by a company of English Baptist missionaries from 
Ching Chow and Tso Ping. About sunset Dr. Craw- 
ford's cook came and quietly told him that two hun- 
dred Boxers were drilling a few hundred yards distant 
from the inn, and that they intended to attack the 
refugees that night. When informed of the report, 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 269 

Mr. Cornwell replied that he had known it for several 
days, but did not like to tell them. He requested that 
not one should lie down that night, but that all should 
be ready at a moment's notice to leave when the wind 
should show signs of changing. Everything was 
packed, carriers were hired to transport the baggage 
to the landing, while the missionaries waited in anx- 
ious suspense. No one except those who have had 
like experiences, can ever know the tense anxiety and 
the pain of uncertainty of such a crucial moment. And 
none but God's own faithful ones can know the full, 
deep peace of soul in reposing in Him in the midst of 
imminent dangers. 

About midnight the wind veered a little to the 
southward, and the signal was given to depart. They 
soon set sail and reached the steamer at eight o'clock 
next morning, this time boarding her without diffi- 
culty. The next day, Saturday, June 30, they arrived 
at Chefoo where the consul, Mr. Fowler, and the local 
missionaries had made the best arrangements prac- 
ticable for their lodging and comfort. At Chefoo they 
were under the protection of the United States gun- 
boats, and were therefore safe from Boxers. 

During this journey, especially while alone in their 
little canal boat, with only the boatmen, a cook, and 
sometimes a soldier, Dr. Crawford's mind was very 
busy and much moved over the great events that were 
transpiring. He saw that for a time missionary work 
would be suspended all over the empire; but Provi- 
dence was at work, and with far greater than human 
power. 



270 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

He foresaw that this would mark the beginning of a 
new and great epoch in the political, social, and re- 
ligious history of the empire. He longed to take some 
part in its renovation. His heart turned with tender 
yearnings to Taianfu, where the work was showing 
signs of progress; but for the present, at least, they 
could only commit it all into the hands of a faithful 
God. 

After a few days at Chefoo, they followed the Bos- 
ticks and Mr. Tedder to Wei Hai Wei where, under 
the protection of the English garrison, they remained 
nearly two months, watching the stirring events of the 
conflict. There they heard of the massacre of the fifty 
missionaries at Tai Yuen Fu by Yu Hsien, and the 
great sufferings of others in different parts of the 
land. There they watched with eager interest the at- 
tempt of the allies to rescue the legations at Peking. 
Dr. Crawford delivered to deeply interested audiences 
several lectures on the three races of men. It was 
during the last of these lectures that the news arrived 
of the entrance of the allies into Peking, and a pause 
was given to allow the hurrahs that burst from many 
throats. 

Dr. and Mrs. Crawford decided to take advantage 
of this enforced rest from their labors to make a visit 
to the homeland, from w T hich he had been absent ten 
years and she eighteen. Sailing from Shanghai on 
the first of October, they reached San Francisco on the 
twenty-eighth, and after a few days proceeded to 
Texas to visit relatives. Their first stop was at Gates- 
ville, where they were cordially welcomed by relatives 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 271 

and Christian friends. Thence they went to visit rela- 
tives in Waco, where the Baptist State Convention 
was then in session. They passed rapidly through 
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and North 
Carolina, visiting a few relatives, and Dr. Crawford 
giving some talks and lectures on the situation in 
China. They reached Greenville, South Carolina, late 
in December, and there they purposed finding a resting 
place. Dr. Crawford was then within a few months 
of eighty years of age. Wherever he went his vigor, 
mental and physical, and the burning interest he took 
in matters religious and whatever related to mankind 
were a marvel to all who met him. 

He was invited to many places to preach on missions 
and to lecture on conditions in China. This he did, 
whenever he was able to accept, to the great interest of 
large congregations. But he overtaxed his strength, 
and returned to Greenville January 28, 1901, with a 
severe cold and high fever. After two or three days 
in bed he got up, but was never himself again. He 
could not understand why he did not recuperate after 
this apparently slight illness. The physician said that 
there was serious heart failure; and thenceforth, by 
slow degrees, he and his wife were brought to realize 
that his work was almost done. However, his con- 
suming desire to see the brotherhood recognize the 
principles for which he had so faithfully contended 
did not abate. 

In March, at the invitation of an earnest brother, 
he and his wife made a visit in North Georgia to at- 
tend a fifth Sunday meeting, but feebleness prevented 



272 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

him from doing much and hurried him back to Green- 
ville. 

Then in May they went to Asheville, North Caro- 
lina, for two months, and he grew so much stronger 
that he was able to attend a missionary rally at 
Oolenoy, South Carolina. At this meeting he was one 
of the most active members of the committee to pre- 
pare and send /out An Address to the Churches, is- 
sued by the Oolenoy meeting, July 25-28, 1901. 

That meeting cheered him greatly, and its influence 
abode with him to the end. After a short stop at 
Greenville, they went to Shelby, North Carolina, 
where they remained some months among Mr. Bos- 
tick's relatives. His health improved so much that 
they wrote to Mr. King at Chattanooga that they 
would in all probability return with him to China in 
September. But later a decline set in and they were 
left with little hope that the invalid would ever see 
China again. 

Nevertheless they concluded to proceed slowly 
southward and westward during the winter, visiting 
relatives, faintly hoping that by spring the way might 
yet be open for a return to the foreign field. Early in 
December they went to Atlanta, remaining there six 
weeks, where a slight stroke of paralysis from a sud- 
den exposure to severe cold hastened their movement 
southward. 

About the middle of January, 1902, they proceeded 
to Dawson, Georgia, where resided two of Mrs. Craw- 
ford's nieces with their families. Mrs. Crawford 
clearly saw the approaching end. When Dr. Crawford 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 273 

consulted a physician and asked him what he thought 
of his case, the physician said, "I would advise you to 
have all of your matters arranged at once. The 
change may be sudden/' He replied, "They are al- 
ready arranged — whenever the Lord calls me to go, I 
am ready." But he, ever hopeful, still had plans for 
future labors. Being told plainly that the end might 
come any day, he requested consultation with another 
physician. The result was to confirm the opinion al- 
ready expressed. 

Their daily walks, morning and afternoon, he lean- 
ing on her arm, grew shorter and shorter with his 
waning strength. They read and talked together, 
passed in review their fifty-one years of wedded life, 
and said all the last things they could think of. On 
the Saturday night previous to his departure, after 
composing himself in bed, he called her to him and 
said, "Kiss me good-night now and let us go to sleep." 
As kneeling beside his bed she did so, he said tenderly, 
"Only a few more times." How this wrung her 
aching heart only those can know who have gone 
through similar experiences. 

The next afternoon, a Baptist minister temporarily 
sojourning in Dawson, during a call said, "What do 
you think it was, doctor, in the Apostle Paul that the 
Lord most highly valued ?" Without a moment's hes- 
itation his reply was, "His faithfulness. That same 
quality which the Lord so emphasized when in relating 
the parable of the steward, He said, 'He that is faith- 
ful in that which is least, is faithful also in much/ " 



274 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

He then proceeded to give his exegesis of that parable 
which he thought was meant to teach faithfulness. 

About midnight he awoke with a slight exclama- 
tion, saying that a peculiar blackness had come over 
his eyes. "Not dizziness," he said, "but a strange 
darkness/' "Shall I get up and do something for 
you ?" his wife asked, but he replied, "No, it is all over 
now. Let us go to sleep again." 

Monday morning he arose and took his breakfast 
as usual, after which he called the two little grand- 
nephews, John and Will Melton, and said he would 
tell them a story of his early life, which he had some- 
time previously promised them. This he did, their 
sisters, Alice and Pearl, also coming in to hear. After 
the children had left for school, he and his wife had 
their usual Bible reading, having come in regular 
order to the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel. He then 
wrote a letter which she mailed for him, and after her 
return they went out and sat side by side on the 
veranda, talking on many subjects that were so close 
to their hearts. Every moment she could have him 
with her was inexpressibly precious. 

A friend passed along on the sidewalk near them, 
and there they held a short conversation about church 
matters. Soon after the friend had left them there 
was an exclamation from him, saying that the black- 
ness had returned. It soon passed off, but quickly 
came again with more violence, and their niece, Mrs. 
Melton, telephoned for the physician. Another severe 
attack came, and the physician was requested to 
hasten. Then the next moment, with a deep, long 



BOXER UPRISING, HOME AT LAST. 275 

groan, the sufferer fell back in the large chair and his 
breath and pulse ceased. Both soon returned, and for 
ten or fifteen minutes he struggled to break loose from 
those who were holding him in the chair. With diffi- 
culty he spoke twice saying, "Friends, go away." 
After the struggle ceased he was placed upon a couch 
where he breathed quietly for about fifteen minutes, 
and then at half-past one o'clock in the afternoon, 
Monday, April 7, 1902, he quietly passed away to be 
forever with the Lord. 

The stricken wife had a simple monument of 
white marble placed at his grave in the Dawson ceme- 
tery. Then after some necessary arrangements, she 
spent two summer months among the mountains of 
North Carolina. 

Having heard that she contemplated returning to 
China, some of her relatives sought to dissuade her 
from doing so, urging that she was advanced in life, 
being then seventy-two years of age, and that she had 
already given a half century of service there. Her 
reply was, "The Lord called me to labor in China, and 
that call has never been revoked." 

She returned to her foreign field in October, 1902, 
in company with Mr. and Mrs. Herring and her 
daughter and son-in-law, Rev. and Mrs. A. G. Jones, 
of the English Baptist mission. 

Reaching the now lonely home at Taianfu, Novem- 
ber 20, 1902, whence she had fled to escape the Boxer 
uprising, she settled down to renew former labors. 
Much of the time during subsequent years of service, 
the loneliness has been relieved by transient visiting 



276 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

families, or a permanently settled single lady. She 
writes, "The time is cheerfully awaited when the 
voice of the Lord shall be heard calling me to the 
mansions he has prepared for His own." 

She resumed and is still carrying on the work of 
taking the gospel from house to house, of teaching 
Bible truths in Sunday-school, and of pointing all she 
can reach to the Saviour, including thousands of pil- 
grims who come yearly to worship at the sacred moun- 
tain, Tai Shan. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD. 

During his long life Dr. Crawford, after leaving 
the home land, seldom preached in English. Only 
now and then on certain occasions a sermon to his 
missionary brethren was called for in China. His 
work was among the Chinese. One who often heard 
him in that language testifies that he preached with 
great force and effect. While his delivery was not 
attractive, he poured forth his living, burning thoughts 
with such fervor that the matter, not the manner, 
took possession of the hearers. Let one instance illus- 
trate. Mr. Leo, the teacher of Mrs. Crawford's 
school at Teng Chow, had been a Christian several 
years; the family lived one hundred miles distant, a 
three or four days' walk. Be it remembered that in 
China the old patriarchal custom still prevails for all 
the sons and grandsons, with wives and children, to 
live together, all subject to the oldest living progen- 
itor. Should a son go abroad for business or for any 
other purpose, his wife and children remained with 
his parents, partly as hostages for his sending them 
a share of his earnings, and partly to secure his pe- 
riodic visits. Mr. Leo was very anxious that his wife 
should go and be with him, and make him at least a 
temporary home at Teng Chow. But the father, a 
stern, haughty old Confucianist, dyed in the wool, 
though proud of his son and fond of him, utterly re- 



278 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

fused the request. This state of things continued sev- 
eral years, Mr. Leo doing his own cooking, washing 
and other domestic requirements, in order to save the 
more money to take to his father. On one occasion 
the father visited him at Dr. Crawford's, and the lat- 
ter became interested in the son's plea to have his wife 
with him. At an evening service, old Mr. Leo being 
present, Dr. Crawford took as his text Col. iii:20, 21, 
"Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is 
well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not 
your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." 

During the first part of the discourse while Dr. 
Crawford strongly pressed the duty of filial obedi- 
ence and reverence, Mr, Leo was observed to be ex- 
ceedingly pleased. When the second half of the dis- 
course was taken up, Dr. Crawford, though being care- 
ful to avoid anything like personal allusions, yet with 
direct reference to the case before him, vividly por- 
trayed the fatal mistake of many parents in so grind- 
ing their sons — refusing them the liberties of man- 
hood — as to drive them to despair and eventually to 
many vices and to the wilful desertion of the whole 
family, and, in short, to make a complete wreck of 
themselves. Early next morning young Leo came to 
Mrs. Crawford, with face wreathed in smiles, and 
said, "My father wishes me to go home and bring 
my family." Then he added thoughtfully, "Truly this 
preaching has wonderful power !" 

During Dr. Crawford's visits to the United States, 
what seemed to be most needed were lectures on mis- 
sions and kindred themes, though occasionally he 



OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD. 279 

preached sermons. An outline of one of these, which 
was delivered at several places, is here given as show- 
ing the habitual attitude of his mind on the subject 
treated. He rarely wrote out a discourse in full, but 
amplified copious notes, and being full of his thoughts 
he poured them forth with a glowing, moving power 
that could never be done in writing. Many letters, 
some addressed to him and some to his wife, thanking 
him for "that great sermon" which stirred them so 
deeply, are now in her possession. 

The Policy of Christ. 

by t. p. crawford, d. d. 

I. Christ, by Laying Aside the Sword, Enfranchises 
the World. 

Christ, being in His original glory King of kings 
and Lord of lords, held all the power of heaven and 
earth in His hands. But when He came to our world 
He laid His royal glory down and came in the "form 
of a servant" — came uncrowned, unarmed and unpro- 
tected to the work of our redemption. The mental 
and moral conditions of mankind seemed to have re- 
quired this mode of procedure, and He does not 
shrink from the self-denial, difficulties and danger 
of the undertaking. Let us study His thoughts. 

Soon after entering on His ministry it is said (Matt, 
xii -.14-21), "Then the Pharisees went out and held 
a council how they might destroy Him. But when 
Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence. 
And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed 



280 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

them all. And He charged them that they should not 
make Him (or His whereabouts) known, that it might 
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, 
saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my 
beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will 
put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall show judg- 
ment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive (fight) ; nor 
(give the battle) cry, neither shall any man hear His 
voice (commanding His troops) in the streets. A 
bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax 
shall He not quench till He send forth judgment unto 
victory, and in His name shall the Gentiles trust." 
That is, Christ will not use force sufficient to break a 
crushed bullrush or to snufif a dying lamp wick, till 
He send forth the gospel unto victory, and till the 
nations shall trust in His name. 

In perfect accord with the course here made out 
by the prophet, Jesus rejects all reliance on the power 
of the sword for supporting the kingdom which He 
will establish among men. He will not prompt, 
coerce or influence one thought by its use. He will, 
therefore, rely alone on the gospel, and respect the 
freedom of the human will even at the expense of His 
own life. When the Pharisees threatened His life He 
withdrew Himself from them. When arrested He 
made no defense. When Peter drew his sword He 
commanded him to put it again into its place, saying, 
"All they that take the sword shall perish with the 
sword;" and, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray 
to my Father, and He will presently give me more 
than twelve legions of angels (for my protection)? 



OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD. 281 

But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus 
it must be?" When on trial before Pilate, the gov- 
ernor, He says boldly, "My kingdom is not of this 
world. If my kingdom were of this world, then 
would my servants fight, that I might not be deliv- 
ered to the Jews" — and He went to the cross. 

Again, when Jesus sent out His disciples to preach 
the gospel, He said to them, "Behold, I send you forth 
as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore 
wise as serpents and harmless as doves." "When they 
persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." "In 
your patience possess ye your souls." "He that will 
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, 
and follow me." 

Thus we see that Christ on principles profound as 
divine thought, excludes the use of the sword, both 
offensive and defensive, from the domain of religion, 
and founds His kingdom on the absolute freedom of 
the human soul. He will reign "not by power, nor 
by might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" — 
not by the force of self-assertion, but by the spirit of 
denial. This is the spirit of Christianity, the "lib- 
erty of the gospel," the regeneration of Christ, the 
new departure in the field of religion. Thus Christ 
by laying aside the sword enfranchises the world, or 
endows mankind with that freedom of soul which is 
essential to all true worship. 

He wants us to be His free-born sons, 

To own His sway from love ; 
To worship Him with all the heart, 
And reign with Him above. 
19 



282 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

2. Christ, by Laying Aside the Purse, Enriches the 
World. 

It is said (2 Cor. viii 19), "For ye know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, 
yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through 
His poverty might be rich." The terms rich, poor 
and poverty, are here used in their common accepta- 
tion. 

Christ certainly did not become mentally, morally 
or spiritually poor for our sakes, but literally poor, 
that we through His poverty might be rich — rich in 
every sense of the word. Being the Son of God and 
"Heir of all things," Christ was originally rich in 
the abundance of His material resources. "The silver 
is mine, and the gold is mine, the cattle upon a thou- 
sand hills, the earth and the fulness thereof, saith the 
Lord." 

Think for a moment of the riches of Christ, the 
possessor and governor of the universe. This our 
world and all other worlds within the range of our 
vision and telescopes are but a few of the outlying 
provinces of His boundless empire, their productions 
but the diminutive specimens of those found in His 
immediate dwelling place. The Holy Jerusalem, the 
bride or capital city of the Lamb, as described by 
John in his twenty-first chapter of Revelation, exhib- 
its like other imperial cities the wealth and magnifi- 
cence of His vast dominions. Thus Christ, the King 
of kings and Lord of lords, reigned supreme in the 
midst of infinite riches, power and glory, worshipped 



OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD. 283 

by angels, archangels and four and twenty elders who 
cast their golden crowns before His throne, saying, 
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor 
and power; for thou hast created all things, and for 
thy pleasure they are, and were, created." 

The riches of Christ, both according to human con- 
ceptions of royalty and the description of John, cor- 
respond to the greatness of His kingdom and the dig- 
nity of His government. What heart can conceive, 
what tongue express, the grandeur of the palace of 
God and the Lamb? These in perfection meet all the 
works of nature and all the works of angelic art. 
What architecture there! What scenery! What 
beauty and glory in that city whose buildings are pure 
gold, whose walls are precious stones, whose gates are 
pearls, whose streets are paved with blocks of solid 
gold, and whose maker and builder is God! Yet 
we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ, the possessor 
of all these riches, who thought it not robbery to be 
equal with God, became of no reputation, became poor, 
even without a place to lay His head, that we "through 
his poverty might be rich." Paradox of parodoxes 
this ! How strange, unnatural, even absurd His pro- 
cedure seems in our eyes, judging by our persistent 
disregard of His example and teaching! Truly His 
thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our 
ways. We enrich our children by giving them our 
riches, He by giving us His poverty ! We relieve the 
wants of the poor and ignorant by putting their minds 
to rest, He by putting them to work ! 



284 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

The material gifts of our rich men, as centuries of 
history show, demoralize and ruin full seven in ten of 
their sons and proteges ; and yet we still go on in the 
same ruinous course, ever decreasing the strength of 
their moral faculties in a corresponding degree. We 
fail to cultivate in them a spirit of manly labor and 
self-denial by the pursuit of noble ends. Thus our 
sons are cast, unpracticed and unpoised, into the 
stream of life, soon to sink beneath its turbid waters. 
How these sad and oft-repeated failures should hum- 
ble our proud hearts before God, should work a thor- 
ough revolution in the basal ideas of our philosophy. 
How penitently they should bring us to Jesus, the 
Anointed of God, the Redeemer of souls, the Philoso- 
pher and Guide of the ages, to learn how to deal with 
fallen human nature. He comprehended all its neces- 
sities and acted accordingly. 

His grace or gifts, unlike ours, never demoralize 
or ruin His heirs, but regenerate, develop, enrich and 
save mankind. Let us, then, once for all, abandon 
our human methods, however orthodox they may be, 
and come straight to the Master for the true prin- 
ciples on which to conduct our present great and 
widespread missionary enterprise, as well as for other 
concerns of life. 

When Christ came down from heaven to redeem 
our heathenish world, to lift us out of the mire of sin 
and selfishness, to purify our hearts and make us heirs 
of His kingdom, He first humbled Himself to our con- 
dition by laying aside His regal power, riches, and 
glory. He brought neither purse nor sword with 



OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD. 285 

Him into the work, but left them both in heaven far 
beyond our fleshly sight. He thus declined to use the 
two great forces before which human hearts bow with 
the greatest reverence. Their use in His eyes seemed 
incompatible with the moral regeneration which He 
wished to produce. He would neither force nor bribe 
the people in the slightest degree, either directly or 
indirectly, to become His disciples. He would re- 
spect their manhood, however weak, and leave every 
one perfectly free to receive or to reject His offer of 
salvation, except so far as His Spirit makes them a 
willing people. He, therefore, preached to them a 
voluntary gospel of repentance, self-denial and self- 
support, for in this way alone could He arouse into 
persons! activity their dormant and religious faculties. 
In this way alone could He strengthen and develop 
these faculties so as to make them capable of bearing 
that exceeding weight of riches, honor and glory into 
which He wished to bring His disciples. For these 
reasons, it seems to me, Jesus appeared among men 
in absolute weakness and poverty. 

He did not begin His work in Palestine by brandish- 
ing His sword, nor by distributing His gold and sil- 
ver, His food and raiment, among its oppressed and 
indigent inhabitants. He did not first relieve their 
physical wants and then labor to save their souls, 
as is the modern fashion. He did not reverse the 
laws of human nature nor attempt to work a moral 
regeneration by physical means. He offered no mon- 
ey, no temples, no synagogues, no chapels in which 
they might meet for His worship. He founded no 



286 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

schools, no colleges, no seminaries in which they 
might study His teachings, but left them to provide 
all these things for themselves. Neither did He open 
any hospitals, asylums, orphanages or retreats for the 
benefit of the poor. Neither did He open any farms, 
any shops, any savings banks, or intelligence offices 
for the benefit of the laboring classes. Neither did 
He remove any social or political burden from the 
shoulders of the people, but left them all as He found 
them, under the stern necessity of relieving their own 
wants and removing their own burdens by the exercise 
of their own faculties. True, Jesus on many occa- 
sions healed the sick and cast out devils ; yet He never 
did so by use of human medicines, but always by the 
use of words, thereby showing the people that He was 
a teacher come from God, able to forgive their sins 
and save their souls. On two occasions, and only two, 
he fed the hungry multitude that listened to Him all 
day long, but when they began to follow Him for 
the loaves and fishes He turned upon them, rebuked 
them sharply for the grossness of their perceptions, 
and drove them from Him. After this He fed them 
no more. Would that we now had the moral bravery 
of the Master ! See the sixth chapter of John. Un- 
like the modern school of philanthropy, Jesus honored 
the manhood of His people by leaving them some- 
thing to do, to bear, and to work out for themselves, 
even with fear and trembling. He did not desire to 
make religious parasites, paupers, camp followers and 
moral weaklings, but strong, healthy, self-reliant Chris- 
tian men and women — brave soldiers of the cross, 



OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD 287 

ready and able to spend and be spent in His service. 
Influenced by this high aim, Christ our Saviour, 
hiding His power and wealth from our timid, cov- 
etous sight, poured out His mental, moral and spir- 
itual riches upon us without stint and without meas- 
ure. 

In short, Christ did nothing but preach the gospel, 
relying on it and it alone, under the Spirit's blessing, 
to work the regeneration He wished to produce in the 
world. On His ascension to heaven, He commanded 
His disciples to preach it to every creature — a long 
and arduous undertaking. But he honored them with 
His confidence by trusting them to find the ways and 
means of accomplishing it, only that they should be 
Spirit-guided. Like their Master, they went forth 
in faith and humility to their work, confining their la- 
bors to preaching Christ crucified to the people, to 
sowing the seeds of spiritual life in their hearts, 
watering them with their tears, and waiting patiently 
for them to bear heavenly fruit through the ages. 

Results have proven the wisdom of the Saviour's 
course. Taking His apostles from the common people 
and stimulating their hearts by the spirit of His own 
self-denial and teachings, their converts have now be- 
come the richest, most intelligent, benevolent, right- 
eous and most powerful nations the world ever saw. 
Compare the moral elevation of grand old England, 
Germany, France, America, and other Christian na- 
tions with the poverty, ignorance and moral degrada- 
tion of the various Mohammedan and heathen nations 
of the earth, and by the contrast see how Christ's vol- 



288 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

untary, self-denying, self-supporting policy stands out 
as a grand success, and also see that He did not be- 
come poor for our sakes in vain. Humanly speaking, 
it would have been far easier for Christ to make us 
rich through His riches than "through His poverty/' 
through the "wisdom of this world," than through the 
"foolishness of preaching." Had He only demolished 
a few of those golden buildings in the New Jerusa- 
lem, pulled down a few miles of her walls of precious 
stones, taken up a few miles of those blocks of solid 
gold that paved her streets, broken to pieces one or 
two of her pearly gates, and scattered these treasures 
broadcast over the world, how easily He could have 
hushed that wail of poverty which has been going up 
to heaven through the ages. Or had Christ only 
accepted the offer of Satan, bowed down and wor- 
shipped him, this would have been unnecessary, for 
Satan himself would have furnished the means by 
which to draw mankind after him. With what ease 
Jesus Christ could have become the universal "God 
of wealth" and filled the world with His temples and 
His own exclusive worship! But what would have 
been the effect of such a procedure? Utter demoral- 
ization, covetousness, selfishness, depravity, ruling 
over every human heart. 

It is also far easier for us good Christians of this 
rich and benevolent day to give our money for the re- 
lief of others than to give them our own personal 
presence, our own humble soul-saving labors. This 
is the difficult work to be done, the work the blessed 
Saviour and His apostles did — the work which we 



OUTLINES OF A SERMON BY DR. CRAWFORD. 289 

must do, beginning from our own homes and extend- 
ing outwards in every direction, if we would uplift 
and save our dying fellow-men. 

Oh, Christian friends, the heathen are not dying 
for our money, but for our Christ. They are dying 
not through poverty of body, but through poverty of 
soul — poverty of God. O rich, educated, benevolent, 
pious Christian brothers and sisters of the west, the 
heathen need you — not your charities, science and par- 
ticular type of civilization — but you. They need to 
see many of you face to face, to hear your sweet words 
of life, to be drawn by you, personally, patiently, lov- 
ingly to Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. As the roots 
of living trees must go down by their own force into 
the bowels of the earth, touch and take up the dead 
particles of inorganic matter, and by a mysterious 
process transform them into particles of living stem, 
branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, so must living Chris- 
tians by their own impulses go down among men and 
women dead in trespasses and in sins, and by the 
living words of the living Saviour, transform them 
through the Spirit of the living God into living Chris- 
tians able and ready of themselves to bear fruit to the 
honor and glory of the Redeemer's name. 

In conclusion, let us follow the example of the Mas- 
ter — so conceal our power and wealth from the people 
as to free their minds from all earthly considerations, 
and going forth in a simple, unpretending manner, 
faithfully preach the gospel of Christ as the power of 
God unto every one that believeth. Let us first sow 
the seed — first bring the heathen to Jesus as the way, 



290 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

the truth and the life, that they may obtain new hearts 
through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit; 
and then churches, pastors, education, civilization, 
wealth, freedom, and all other good things will spring 
forth, and in a natural, healthy way flourish among 
them to the glory of Him who became poor that we 
might be rich, and humble that we might be exalted. 

He sets us free from slavish cares, 

And burdens of our own; 
And calls us to His noblest work, 

To make His Gospel known. 

To sound the trump of jubilee, 

To say, the Lord is come; 
To save His people from their sins, 

And take His ransomed home. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 

It is no easy task to give a just and proper estimate 
of the character of Dr. T. P. Crawford. Standing 
in the presence of his life work, which was the out- 
ward manifestation of his splendid character, one 
can only note some of the traits which it exhibits. 
The modest opinion he always entertained of himself 
impressed every one who met him. There was very 
little of the personal vanity, self-esteem or egotism, 
which is in some degree seen in the greatest and 
best of men. Some years ago, when the subject of a 
memorial volume of his life was first mentioned to 
him, he wrote: 

"In looking over my past life, my wanderings by 
sea and land, exposure to dangers seen and unseen, I 
sometimes wonder why I have never met with a serious 
accident, while so many friends, younger and stouter 
and less exposed to dangers, have been in various 
ways taken away. But our Father ruleth in heaven 
and on earth ; yes, 

"Lord, Thou dost reign, 
And sway maintain 
Through Thy domain — 
We trust in Thee, 
O Lord, in Thee. 



292 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

"As to facts for the future memorial of which you 
speak I have only to say that I highly appreciate your 
wishes. I have looked over the whole course of my 
life, and I confess to a feeling of opposition. No 
sort of a thing, in my candid opinion, can be made of 
it, and it would not pay the printer. I hope and be- 
lieve it has been honest, earnest, and to some little 
extent useful; but it has been exceedingly tame and 
commonplace. Was born, lived and died in the ordi- 
nary way, I suspect, would about express it. Per- 
haps in future years I may think differently on the 
subject. At all events, I have no desire to withhold 
any facts connected with it. . . . My real life has 
been thus far spent in China, and is likely to con- 
tinue to be to the end, and should be written, if at all, 
in Chinese and for the Chinese." 

Through his earnest and laborious life, his energies 
were given entirely to his work, and he seemed utterly 
careless as to having any of it published to the world. 
One of his colleagues thus speaks of his earnestness : 

"There was no half-heartedness about Dr. Craw- 
ford in anything. He was altogether in favor of a 
cause, or he would have nothing whatever to do with 
it. He put his whole strength to whatever he under- 
took. I call to mind an incident which occurred once 
while we were out on a preaching trip together. We 
had been talking in an inn until it was late at night, but 
the crowd still remained. I was tired and in the 
notion of asking them to go and leave us to our 
needed rest. But Dr. Crawford said, 'Why, we came 
out here to preach, and this is our opportunity; let 



ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 293 

us do what we came to do. We can rest when we 
get back home/ But even when he was at home, he 
almost daily went out for his 'preach/ and never failed 
to seize an opportunity for personal work. Whether 
we consider his life as a whole or in detail, it is every- 
where characterized by that same spirit of earnest- 
ness/' 

He was great intellectually, and was an unwearying 
student of the Bible. Another of his colleagues, him- 
self a great man, says, "I consider Dr. Crawford one 
of the most profound thinkers I ever knew, and also 
a man of very deep piety, with the simplest, most 
childlike faith. Yet his was a faith that could stand, 
like a mountain of solid rock, against adverse storms. 
I have been by his side when he knew that he was 
maligned and persecuted, and he manifested the spirit 
of the meek and lowly Lamb. I have also been with 
him when physical danger was imminent, and he 
stayed himself on God with the solid grip of faith. 
. . . I think of Dr. Crawford as a rugged, sturdy 
oak. He was often blunt in manner, but never weak, 
and always loving." 

Another says, "I was deeply impressed by . . . 
his intense and realistic faith in God, and in the Bible 
as God's word. He did not talk as much as some 
about his personal experience, or about religion con- 
sidered subjectively; his was an objective faith. That 
he was conscious of God's sovereign care, and of the 
Spirit's constant presence, was evident by his every 
word and act. He studied the Bible as God's mes- 
sage; not merely for theological purposes, but that 



294 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

he might know and obey God's will and teach others 
to do the same. His whole life as a missionary is an 
exemplification of this truth. He loved the esteem 
of his brethren as much as any one, and the separa- 
tions which his course in life enforced were keenly 
bitter to him. But when it came to the question of 
following God's word, or regarding the favor of 
men, or any earthly advantage, there was never any 
second choice with Dr. Crawford." 

He was a man of strong and deep convictions. He 
thoroughly mastered every subject he considered, and 
when once satisfied with his conclusions, his convic- 
tions became a part of his manhood that could not be 
eradicated. And his conscientiousness gave him the 
courage of his convictions. For him to believe a 
course of action was right meant that he would follow 
that line of action at all hazards. He never made 
compromises with his conscience. To follow the lead- 
ings of his conscience after he had been convinced by 
God's word that he was right, was more to him than 
the favor of friends or the reproach of enemies. While 
he freely yielded the same right to others, and while 
he was very considerate of the opinions of his breth- 
ren, yet he could not be turned aside from following 
his own convictions, despite the consequences. 

Dr. Crawford was a man of great tenacity of pur- 
pose; not for the sake of having his opinion prevail, 
nor for the gratification of any personal ambition, but 
for the sake of having what he believed right to tri- 
umph. D'Israeli says, "Tenacity of purpose is the 
secret of success." But with Dr. Crawford it was 



ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 295 

not primarily the question of success, but that what 
he believed to be right should prevail. 

Rev. W. D. King says, "Dr. Crawford was a man 
of persistence. He hardly knew what it was to be 
daunted by discouraging conditions. Having once 
made up his mind that some course of action was 
right, and so a duty, he never failed in pursuing it 
to the end. He finished what he started, or never 
ceased working at it. A member of another mission 
once remarked to him, 'When a man has spent forty 
years on a certain line of action without apparent re- 
sults, isn't it time to quit?' The reply was, 'No, not 
if that course of action is right/ And this is what 
any one knowing him would have expected him to say. 

"Dr. Crawford was always forceful and impressive. 
No one after meeting him could ever forget him. He 
was always interesting. His information was wide, 
and he knew well how to use his knowledge. His 
company was not only entertaining but helpful. His 
positive faith in God, his earnestness of manner, were 
strengthening and stimulating to those about him. 
The impress of his life is not only felt by his foreign 
associates, but by the many Chinese with whom he 
came in contact during his long life. His character 
was more of the robust than the winning type. One 
was not easily drawn into a feeling of intimacy with 
him, but the friends he made were bound 'to his soul 
with hooks of steel.' I feel that these poor w r ords 
very inadequately express my love and respect for 
this great and good man; but I trust that the act of 
writing may speak more than the words." 



296 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Professor H. T. Cook, of Furman University, 
Greenville, South Carolina, wrote thus in a missionary 
publication in May, 1902: 

"In a profound comprehension of New Testament 
principles, and in a knowledge of their application to 
the needs of fallen humanity, individually and collect- 
ively, he had no superior. In his young manhood he 
set himself to his task as a missionary, and what he 
sought was more light on the dark problem. With 
his Bible in his hands and in his heart, and with his 
head and heart in his work, he closed his missionary 
service of half a century with views far different 
from those he began with; but his evolution was not 
away from, but back to, the word of God. This was 
the reason for his progress far in advance of his 
brethren. He had reached that sunny eminence from 
which human contrivances and the power of the liv- 
ing God could be rightly compared and judged; and 
along with that knowledge came the power to walk 
in the light of the truth. 

"He was honest, intelligently honest, perseveringly 
honest, if he was anything. Being no mean philoso- 
pher, his thinking on religious subjects was intense; 
and what makes his close of life like the fall of the 
tall poplar, or the long-leafed pine, was that his own 
rules of private life and conduct kept pace with the 
light of his thinking and learning. What a benedic- 
tion it was to those who were favored with his pres- 
ence in his riper years, to listen to his words of in- 
struction and wisdom, which came out in battalions 
from his full storehouse of experience and memory! 



ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 297 

Some men come and go like the noonday shadows, 
or like the flitting bird, but into whatever heart Dr. 
Crawford entered he remained a permanent and wel- 
come guest. 

"What a rare combination of greatness! Great 
physical and mental strength presided over by a 
strong faith in the unseen verities of another world! 
Simple and guileless as a child, and so philanthropic 
that even those who acted as enemies toward him 
never put themselves outside the sphere of his good 
wishes. In no sense was he a narrow person; for 
while strict with himself, and as narrow as the truth 
in his own practice, he was as broad as the ocean in 
his love of all his brethren. 

"He could love his brethren, while opposing their 
errors. He was too great and too original a man to 
be carried along by the current, and later years will 
appreciate the brawny man in his small canoe, who 
kept his bearings and reached the port in spite of 
the times and tides. 

"Dr. Crawford is not dead! No man ever dies 
who lives for the truth. Such a life in the sight of 
God, not to mention men of sober judgment, is worth 
more than rubies. 

"If near-sighted mortals could take a full view of 
life's great puzzle pictures, true greatness would often 
be found where there appear only snatches of an 
aimless pen. And beginning at the cross and com- 
ing down to the present day, how many of earth's 
really great ones will be seen ending their lives in 



298 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

apparent failure, 'hanging on the ragged edges of the 
outside/ " 

It is said of him in earlier life, "He entered upon 
the study of the Chinese language and of his mis- 
sionary work with all the ardor of his nature, keep- 
ing watch at every turn lest he go astray. He was 
aware that modern mission methods were not yet 
settled (at least in his own mind), and his aim from 
the beginning was to work along New Testament 
lines as far as he could discover them. 

"He had many struggles and difficulties, and, as 
he himself afterwards acknowledged, some ambitions. 
A short while before his death, he said to his wife, 
as he had often said before: 'All my ambitions were 
given up on that memorable day, in 1859, while we 
were at the Female Institute, Richmond, Virginia, 
when I surrendered myself to the Lord, to be His 
alone, and to work and live only for Him. I then 
and there cast away every desire for selfish ends, and 
have never since allowed ambition, or a love of the 
favor and praise of men to come in as a factor in 
my work for my Master/ 

"In after years, when he felt it his duty to differ 
from the great majority of the Baptist brotherhood, 
and to return, almost single-handed and alone, to what 
he believed to be the way of God as shown in His word, 
it was often suggested and even urged upon him that 
he would thus sacrifice his popularity, and with it 
much of his usefulness — that he would be kept out 
in the cold — that he would lose his standing in the 
denomination. But these considerations carried no 



ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 299 

weight with him. He would simply reply, 'I know 
it.' 'If you take this step you might as well lay your 
head upon the altar/ some one said. 'It is already 
there/ he promptly replied. And there he stood to 
the last, never wavering in the darkest moment. ,, 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ARGUMENTS. 

The principles for which Dr. Crawford almost lit- 
erally "suffered the loss of all things" ought to be 
clearly, concisely, and in the proper spirit, stated in 
the life work of this great man. Twelve years ago 
a beloved and able brother, for many years pastor of 
one of the leading city churches in the South, wrote, 
"I have read the letters with great interest. It amazes 
me that there is nothing said of their work by the 
Board, and that our papers are so silent about the 
Gospel Mission. They ought to have a full hearing 
before the Southern Baptists. My deepest sympathy 
is with them. May the Lord abundantly reward 
them in their work, and compensate them for what 
they have suffered." That their principles and aims 
may have as full a hearing as possible before South- 
ern Baptists, they are here presented: 

i. The Gospel Mission movement is an outcome of 
Baptist doctrines, a manifestation of a long-felt desire 
on the part of many among us, to conform our for- 
eign mission methods and work to New Testament 
principles and apostolic examples; for it is painfully 
evident that without some change, Baptists can never 
expect to do much toward the evangelization of the 
world. Through a devout return to the inspired 
standard of faith and practice, the Gospel Mission 
hopes, sooner or later, to secure the hearty coopera- 



STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ARGUMENTS. 301 

tion of all the churches, and thereby increase the 
number and spiritual force of our missionaries to 
the perishing millions of earth. 

2. That portion of the Chinese empire which the 
Gospel Missionaries are beginning to enter, and for 
which they are asking God and the churches for one 
hundred seed sowers, is a vast field, stretching from 
the middle of Shantung Province in the northeast, 
through the populous provinces of Honan, Hoopei, 
and Si Chuen towards the southwest. Our purpose 
in going forth is to preach the gospel according to 
the command of Christ as given in the commission, 
which says, "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to every creature." "Go disciple all the 
nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you." 

3. We desire with all our hearts to adhere to this 
commission, to preach the gospel of Christ as the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that believ- 
eth, and to let "modern adjuncts" alone. We shall 
do this relying on the Holy Spirit to accompany our 
message in the salvation or condemnation of men, to 
the glory of God the Father. 

4. As preaching consists, not simply in proclaim- 
ing Christ to crowds and congregations, but also in 
speaking of Him to individuals and families from 
house to house, and teaching disciples to obey His 
commands, there is an abundance of gospel work for 
missionary women. . . . We know that for a 



302 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

while the Gospel Mission will meet with strenuous 
opposition both at home and abroad. Yet we believe 
that through our faithful labors God will, in His own 
good time, raise up for Himself regenerated, spiritual 
churches in this land, and from their membership 
call forth a supply of devoted evangelists and pastors. 
"Responsibility is the mother of activity." Then let 
the native churches, from the beginning of their exist- 
ence as churches, conduct their own worship, meet 
their own expenses, and aid or support their own 
pastors; and this will become, not only a means of 
grace to them, but an unanswerable argument to 
their heathen observers. Baptist Christianity, to ex- 
ist at all, must be self-propagating and self-support- 
ing everywhere. Hence the Gospel Mission rejects 
foreign money for the employment of native preach- 
ers, colporteurs, Bible women, etc., for supporting 
schools, hospitals and asylums, and for building par- 
sonages, cemeteries and the like. We decline, by the 
grace of God, to burden either our home churches or 
our mission work, with these adjuncts for drawing 
converts, or in any way to excite pecuniary expecta- 
tions in the minds of the people, lest we be found 
building our holy religion on the sand of selfishness 
and hypocrisy. 

5. Between the two methods there is no middle 
ground, for the two lead in exactly opposite direc- 
tions. The life of the one is the death of the other. 
The subsidy method starts the young convert off, 
feeling that the mission is under obligation to support 
him and his poor relatives; the gospel method starts 



STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ARGUMENTS. 303 

him off feeling grateful to Christ for saving his soul, 
and with a desire to help save others. We can never 
use either deception, force, or bribery, directly or 
indirectly, for making disciples, or in any way strive 
to gratify our own or the public's desire for success. 
We must build on the Rock or give up the work. 

6. We believe that the church, and the church alone, 
is Christ's organization for the evangelization of the 
world; and that the Holy Ghost says to many of 
them, "separate me a Paul and a Barnabas to the 
work whereunto I have called them." We believe 
also that the cooperation of the churches with each 
other in Christian work is in accord with apostolic 
teaching, and with the practice in New Testament 
times. So it should be in all ages. As foreign fields 
are generally distant, and the expenses of the evan- 
gelization great even with the strictest economy, two 
or more churches, according to circumstances, can 
readily cooperate in choosing and sustaining a mis- 
sionary in China, or elsewhere, as they frequently do 
in the case of a pastor. Thus each church becomes, 
according to its own action and ability, responsible 
as a body to the missionary for a part of his support, 
and he to each of them for the faithful execution of 
his trust. Thus every Baptist church in America, 
great and small, may become actively engaged in 
evangelizing the world, greatly to its own growth in 
grace. The church of God is the ground and pillar 
of the truth, and of all bodies on earth is best qual- 
ified to select and look after the character of its own 
pastor and missionary. For to the church is prom- 



304 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

ised the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a qualification 
which cannot be predicated of any other body what- 
ever. When such intimate relation of sacred and 
mutual responsibility is once established between a 
devoted church and a consecrated missionary, then 
the Spirit of the blessed Master will flow through all 
the members like the sap through the branches of a 
vine, and will yield fruit to the glory of God. Then 
earnest prayers and cheerful contributions will be 
made by the church, and cheerful, self-denying service 
will be rendered by the missionary — a condition of 
things greatly needed in these days. 

7. The Gospel Mission movement has an important 
bearing, not only upon our religious life in the home 
land, but upon our religious prospects in the foreign 
fields. It is impossible for our native brethren to get 
a correct idea of independent church government, while 
they see that the missionary teachers are dependent 
upon a central body, which they call the lao zuhay, 
or venerable church, for a support. Link this with 
the fact that they see a few foreign ministers employ- 
ing and dismissing native preachers at pleasure, or at 
least without the action of the native church, and we 
ask how can our independent or congregational form 
of government ever be introduced among them? See- 
ing the unbaptistic tendencies of the prevailing sys- 
tem in so many directions, both at home and abroad, 
should not our people generally withdraw from it 
and come boldly to the help of the Gospel Mission, 
which runs in the opposite direction ? 



STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ARGUMENTS. 305 

8. We propose individually to honor the churches, 
each in its own independent and sovereign capacity, 
as the body of Christ ; to work under its direct author- 
ity, and to depend upon it, or a group of such churches, 
for the necessary means of support while engaged in 
preaching the gospel to the heathen. Under a sense 
of profound devotion to the Master's example and 
teaching, we rest the whole movement upon the bed- 
rock of self-denial for Christ's sake and the salvation 
of men, alike for the churches at home, the mission- 
aries abroad, and for the native Christians in every 
field. 

9. Judging from all the information in our pos- 
session, $450.00 gold rate, per individual missionary, 
whether male or female, married or single, is amply 
sufficient for a yearly support in North China. This 
amount in detail is as follows : 

Salary and personal needs $300 00 

House rent and repairs 50 00 

Teacher of the language 50 00 

Itinerating and other expenses of gospel work. 50 00 

Total $450 00 

Besides this, some additional allowance, according 
to circumstances, should be made for children. This 
is far less than is expended by the Board per mis- 
sionary, but not less than is used by the China Inland 
missionaries. 



306 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

10. We propose this reduction of expenditure for 
the following reasons : ( i ) It is the Lord's mon- 
ey, given by the Lord's people — much of it by 
those who are poor — for the purpose of send- 
ing the gospel to the perishing nations, and we 
cannot use it for other purposes without a breach 
of trust. (2) We wish to stand on an equality 
in this respect with our tow r n and country pastors, 
as we look to them largely for sympathy and support. 

(3) We wish to set an example of economy and self- 
denial in order both to ennoble our churches and to 
induce them generally to send a large number of 
missionaries to this and other destitute fields. Many 
among our people are called of God to the foreign 
work, but for the lack of funds are kept at home. 
Let them now come and let the churches now send 
them forth to the work, both alike accepting self-denial 
as the basal principle of action in the Master's service. 

(4) Self-denial, even to poverty and death in the 
service of God, is a basal doctrine of Christianity as 
expressed in the life of its founder, and as afterward 
enjoined and exemplified by the apostles and the early 
churches. For Jesus says, "For the Son of man came 
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
His life a ransom for many." And Paul says, "Ye 
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though 
He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that 
we through His poverty might be rich." Yea, those 
who would give vital Christianity to the Chinese 
must, like Jesus and the apostles, bring no money to 
the work, or in any way excite their cupidity and 



STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ARGUMENTS. 307 

thereby corrupt their hearts. They must be drawn 
by the cords of gospel love to follow Christ, and 
not by the cords of foreign silver; not by loaves and 
fishes, but by the bread of life. They must also 
be taught by precept and example to accept the doc- 
trine of self-denial and personal sacrifice for Christ's 
sake, rather than to expect pecuniary gain from a 
profession of His religion. 

ii. The support of the Gospel Missionaries is, ac- 
cording to our principles, to be a free gift from God's 
people, contributed through their several churches, and 
subject to the direct control of these churches. The 
work of missions being thus brought back to scrip- 
tural simplicity, it is hoped that a new era will 
begin; that henceforth the happy communication be- 
tween the missionaries and the churches spoken of 
in Phil. iv:i5 will prevail. Then supporting a self- 
denying missionary by a church or group of spiritually- 
minded churches, as a messenger of Christ's dying 
love for the souls of men, will become not only a 
pleasure, but a real grace to both pastor and people. 

12. We regard all Baptist ministers, whether pas- 
tors or evangelists, home or foreign missionaries, as 
on an equality, and reject every theory which makes 
of a few of them heads or superintendents over others, 
or gives them control over the mission contributions 
and work of the churches. We do not believe in the 
unbaptistic system which works down upon the 
churches, but in the system that is worked in and 
by them ; in the one that is adapted to their faith and 
conditions; in the one for which they feel themselves 



308 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

responsible and able to carry out under Christ their 
Head, without the intervention of any outside body. 

13. We, as well as many others, are tired of the 
grinding wheels of outside organizations in the home 
land, and of the subsidy methods and modern adjuncts 
in mission fields. We long for the simplicity, fellow- 
ship, and self-denying energy of apostolic times, and 
must labor to bring this about. We of the Gospel 
Mission in China wish to go down to the people, 
wear their dress, live in their houses, and in general 
to eat the food of the land. For only in this way 
can we hope to get in full touch with those for whose 
salvation we labor. Moreover, the Chinese dress is 
very much cheaper, more comfortable, and more read- 
ily obtained than the tight-fitting foreign dress. This 
is especially so in the interior where the foreign 
dress is an object of constant curiosity and annoy- 
ance, drawing the attention of the people away from 
the gospel message. For similar reasons we prefer 
to live in native houses. Foreign houses not only 
awaken fears of foreign aggression and lead to re- 
peated mobs, but also prevent ready intercourse be- 
tween the people and the missionaries, a thing most 
desirable to encourage, for the Chinese greatly need 
to see Christian life illustrated under surroundings 
similar to their own. By doing so we also relieve 
the difficulty of living in one element and laboring 
in another. Besides, many missionaries feel called 
of God to live among the heathen, and not to do so 
is a greater strain upon their strength than thus to 
come down as some call it. Again, it is not our business 



STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ARGUMENTS. 309 

to foreignize, but to Christianize, the people among 
whom we dwell. Much of China is a high, dry, and 
healthy country, abounding in all kinds of necessary 
provisions which we utilize, instead of expensive ones 
from distant lands. Our course will thus so simplify 
and unburden the work at home and abroad, that 
every church, both great and small, both city and 
country, can readily take part in its support. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 

Considering his arduous and incessant labors as a 
zealous preacher of the gospel, Dr. Crawford did a 
considerable amount of literary work. As a lecturer, 
he prepared and delivered, while in the United States, 
addresses on The Races of Men, which commanded 
the admiration of many learned audiences. These 
lectures were unique in conception, as the lecturer 
was unique in his thinking. He took the position 
that all of the different types of the human race may 
be arranged into three distinct groups — Caucasian, 
Mongolian, and African; and that the Malays and 
American Indians should be regarded as sub-races 
under these three great divisions. 

These lectures were eminently useful in removing 
race prejudices and making the hearer feel that all 
men are brethren — children of one Father, and equally 
in need of the gospel. They were really missionary 
lectures in their own peculiar way. The Mongolian 
might be compared, he said, to an India rubber ball, 
gracefully yielding to any outside pressure, but as- 
suming its original shape as soon as that pressure 
was removed ; the African to a ball of wax, retaining 
the shape given it by an outside pressure until an- 
other outside pressure should give it another shape, 
always retaining the shape last given; the Caucasian 
to a ball of iron, yielding to no outside pressure un- 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 311 

less it be one sufficient to crush it to atoms. The 
Mongolian might be compared to a reed, bending 
itself to the force of wind and storm, and straighten- 
ing itself after the storm had passed; the African to 
a vine, unable to stand of itself, but seeking a sup- 
port; the Caucasian to a majestic oak, standing strong 
in all the storms, unless the storm be strong enough 
to tear it up root and branch. The Mongolian is the 
race of the past, nothing being worthy of considera- 
tion unless it be hundreds or thousands of years old, 
bowing down and worshiping the past; the African 
is the race of the present, having no past historically, 
and caring nothing for the future if he has plenty to 
eat and drink in the present ; the Caucasion is the race 
of the future, laying his plans and projecting his 
enterprises for the future, while not ignoring the 
claims of the present nor disregarding the lessons of 
the past. The Mongolian is the race of prose, having 
no music or poetry in his soul, or, if so, having it 
in a very rudimentary condition; the African is the 
race of music, making music out of anything, and 
finding his highest enjoyment in music and dancing; 
the Caucasian is the race of poetry, and of all those 
fine conceptions and beautiful imagery which contrib- 
ute to the highest intellectual enjoyment. It requires 
this three-fold cord with its diverging strands to con- 
stitute God's complete ideal of humanity. 

During his last visit to the United States, Dr. 
Crawford's lectures on the Chinese situation were 
everywhere listened to with great pleasure by the 
large audiences assembled to hear him. 



312 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

His Writings in English. 

1. In 1866, a pamphlet in reply to What Term 
Can Be Christianized for God in China? signed 
Theophilus. 

2. In 1877, The Patriarchical Dynasties from 
Adam to Abraham, shown to cover a period of ten 
thousand five hundred years, and the highest human 
life only one hundred and eighty-seven years. In 
this book the author shows that the long lives given 
in the fifth and eleventh chapters of Genesis refer to 
a succession of men of the same name, just as we say 
the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, the Caesars, etc., and 
not only to individual lives ; and that the first number 
given indicates the age of the first man in the suc- 
cession. 

3. A pamphlet called, What Caused the Sudden 
Death of Christ? This proves, conclusively to 
many, that the immediate cause of the death of our 
Lord was the spear thrust of the soldier, which was 
given before, not after, his death. 

4. A pamphlet called, How Long Was Jesus in the 
Tomb? In this he maintains that the Lord was 
three days and three nights in the grave, including 
a festival (passover) Sabbath and a weekly Sabbath, 
separated by one day. 

5. A much larger work than The Patriarchal 
Dynasties, called The Reign of Man, giving besides 
the ancient annals of the Hebrews, those also of the 
Chinese, of Babylon, Egypt, Persia and India. Th' r 
book has never been published, but is in the keeping 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 313 

of Professor H. T. Cook, of Greenville, South Car- 
olina. 

6. In 1892, a pamphlet, Churches, To the Front! 

7. In 1894, The Crisis of the Churches. A col- 
lection of strong articles bearing on Baptist polity 
and the independence of the churches. 

8. In 1899, a Poem for the Churches, giving 
his conception of what a church of Christ should be, 
which appears as Chapter XXIX of this book. 

9. Evolution in My Mission Views, being a series 
of letters addressed to Rev. J. A. Scarboro, and pub- 
lished by that gentleman after the author's death. 

10. At various periods he wrote hymns, the first 
lines of some of which are as follows : 

"Come, Heavenly Dove, Spirit of love." 
"God of grace, cause wrong to cease." 
"Thou, Lord, dost reign, o'er Thy domain." 
"The Cross, Thy passion, Lord." 
"My thoughts go forth to Thee." 

One of his earlier poems is here given in full: 

Pass under the rod, 
Thou servant of God, 
Pass under the rod 
Designed for thy good; 
His wisdom believe, 
His teaching receive, 
Nor murmur, nor grieve, 
But keep to thy place 
And quicken thy pace, 
Recipient of grace, 
Thy sphere is above. 



314 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Then bow to the rod, 
Thou servant of God, 
And say not a word — 
'Tis all for thy good. 
Though hid from thy sight, 
Yon mansion is bright 
And filled with delight. 
There glories untold, 
That ravish the soul, 
Forever unfold, 
And beckon thee on. 

Ah! servant of God, 
That kingdom above, 
That region of love, 
In which we must move, 
Hath heights so sublime 
And joys so divine, 
With life so refined 
That we must be trained 
Through labor and pain 
Its portals to gain, 
Its pleasures to share. 

This was addressed to Mrs. Lucy Knowlton upon 
the death of her husband, Rev. M. J. Knowlton, mis- 
sionaries of the American Baptist Missionary Union, 
of Ningpo, China. 

His Writings in Chinese, 

i. In 1855, A Phonetic Primer, an elementary 
work to teach the Chinese the use of the phonetic 
character which he invented for writing the Shang- 
hai colloquial dialect. A second edition was printed. 

2. In 1856, Hymns of Praise. This was the 
first hymn book in the Shanghai dialect. The hymns 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 315 

were either translated, or composed by himself and 
Wong Ping San. It was enlarged in after years. 

3. In 1856, A Scientific Manual, a small book in 
the Shanghai dialect. 

4. In 1857, Bible Stories. This contains eight 
narratives from the Old Testament, and was printed 
in the phonetic character. 

5. The Inquirer. This was in the Chinese classi- 
cal style, for circulation in evangelistic work. 

6. In 1870, Hymns of Praise, in the Mandarin 
dialect, consisting of hymns of his own translating 
and composing, with selections from other hymnals, 
including those in the Shanghai Hymns of Praise. 
This is still in use. 

7. A Mandarin Grammar. This was used in the 
schools at Teng Chow, and had considerable sale 
among the Chinese. 

8. In 1878, An Epitome of Ancient History. 
This was a large book in the Mandarin dialect, for use 
in the schools and for general reading. 

9. In 1885, Catechism of General Information. 
This was answering such questions as a Chinese is 
almost sure to ask of a foreigner with whom he con- 
verses. It also contains an account of the creation of 
the world, the fall of man, and the redemption through 
Jesus. 

Mrs. Crawford's Publications in English. 
Before mentioning these, it is thought that the fol- 
lowing lines written by her in the summer of 1851, 
in the album of a friend in Kentucky, may be read 
with interest : 



316 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Amid the oaks that shade the banks 

Of Tuscaloosa's placid stream — 

Far from the rush and tumult of the world, 

There was my childhood's home. 

It was indeed a happy home, 

Nor grief had ever entered there ; 

Death had not snatched one victim from that fold, 

And all was peace and joy. 

E'en now I see my father's form, 

I hear my mother's gentle voice; 

I almost catch the sound of mirthful glee 

As 't bursts from childish lips. 

Shall I bow that father's form, 

And dim that mother's eye with grief? 

Ah! shall I check those merry, bounding feet — 

With sadness fill those hearts? 

I saw beneath the glowing sun 
Of India, China, Afric's lands — 
And still I see the mother's gory hands 
Dipped in her infant's blood. 

I heard the widow's shriek of woe 

Which rose up from the funeral pyre — 

I saw the midnight gloom in all their realms, 

The gloom of moral death. 

No sacred music filled the air, 

No voice of supplication rose — 

No hope was there to cheer the fainting heart — 

And all was woe and death. 

Then let me hasten to those scenes 

To tell them of a Saviour's love. 

With joy I bid farewell to home and friends, 

There to live — there to die. 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 317 

1. In 1868, The Chinese Bride, a story for Sun- 
day-schools, giving the early life and conversion of 
a Chinese woman. Many editions of this have been 
issued by the American Baptist Publication Society. 

2. The Chinese Daughter-in-Law. This first ap- 
peared in the Chinese Recorder, but was later pub- 
lished as a booklet by the Ladies' Board of Mis- 
sions of the Presbyterian Church, New York, and 
had an extensive circulation. 

3. In 1883, Discouragements and Encouragements 
of the Missionary Situation in China. This booklet 
gives an admirable view of the difficulties which meet 
the missionary in propagating the Christian faith in 
China; also the favorable conditions which lend en- 
couragement. 

4. In 1885, Shantung Province, Our North China 
Mission Field. 

5. In 1888, A Call to North China. This pam- 
phlet was written at the request of the assistant sec- 
retary of the Foreign Mission Board of the South- 
ern Baptist Convention, and had an extensive circula- 
tion. 

6. In 1892, Wong Ping San. This was a book- 
let giving a brief biography of Dr. Crawford's first 
convert in China, who afterwards became a conse- 
crated minister of the gospel and the first native pastor 
of the Shanghai Baptist Church. 



318 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

In Chinese. 

i. In 1856, The Three Maidens, a story for Sun- 
day-school children published in the Phonetic Char- 
acter, at Shanghai. 

2. The above issued in the Mandarin dialect at 
Teng Chow. 

3. In 1866, Foreign Cookery in Chinese. This 
book had a table of contents in English, and though 
it was prepared originally for her own cook, it has 
passed through many editions and is still in demand. 

4. In 1874, A Scripture Catechism. This has 
been extensively used in all the Southern Baptist mis- 
sions in Shantung. It has recently been revised and 
enlarged, and is published by the Canton Baptist Pub- 
lication Society. 

5. In 1897, An Abstract of Christianity. 

6. In 1899, A Catechism of Christian Doctrine. 
These two are small pamphlets, and are largely used 
in evangelistic work. 

Letters. 

Dr. Crawford was not a prolific letter writer, and 
of the letters he wrote he did not often keep copies. 
Among his papers are found a few, some of which are 
here given, evidently the first drafts (except those to 
his wife and son) of those in which he wished to make 
some changes in thought or expression. They are, 
therefore, probably not the exact transcripts of the 
letters received by those addressed. Some letters 
addressed to him are added. The first letter is a 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 319 

report of the Monument Street mission, Teng Chow, 
China : 

Rev. H. A. Tupper, D. D., Corresponding Secretary 
F. M. B., S. B. C, Richmond Va. 

Dear Brother: — With the close of the year we 
render devout thanks to God, our Heavenly Father, 
for His preserving mercies. No serious interruption 
or expenditure of funds has occurred. Much labor 
has been performed by each member of the mission, 
and the results are with God in the future. 

In the city the regular services in the new church 
and the little chapel have been sustained. A good deal 
of preaching has also been done in the study and on 
the streets. The theological class has been taught 
a week at a time every quarter. 

The ladies have labored incessantly, superintending 
their schools, and teaching the women and children to 
come in, and from house to house. In addition to the 
regular work in the city we have all taken frequent 
excursions to the surrounding country. The native 
church and many individual brethren have also volun- 
tarily aided in this department. Putting all together 
the gospel during the year has been carried to more 
than two hundred and fifty villages, and tracts and 
portions of the Bible distributed among them. 

Public sentiment seems more favorable to us now 
than at any previous period, and we begin to hope 
that the Spirit of God is moving on the hearts of the 
people. We long to see a great revival break out 
among them. A number of persons show interest in 



320 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

the truth, some of whom we trust are near the king- 
dom. One of Mrs. Crawford's most promising pupils 
has recently been baptized, and since then there has 
been a good deal of seriousness among the rest of 
the boys. We are so frequently disappointed about 
these things that we scarcely dare to hope; all sorts 
of indescribable difficulties beset our paths, and only 
to God can we make known the real conditions under 
which we live and labor. 

Many of the brethren reside in the country and 
can only attend preaching at the church in the city. 
They, however, meet among themselves at two vil- 
lages about eight miles apart, every Sabbath day for 
worship, and they do a good deal of labor among 
their neighbors. We employ no native preachers with 
mission funds, believing the system to be rotten to 
the core, and calculated only to retard the growth of 
vital Christianity. We long to see it cut out of mis- 
sionary operations and the church left to grow from 
the healthy root of love to God. We believe most 
firmly that the human mind can only respect that 
religion which requires a voluntary sacrifice, and 
instinctively despises that which is pecuniarily profit- 
able. Every religion that ever existed — except modern 
mission religion — requires its votaries to support it, 
rather than to be supported by it. If all the boards 
had pursued the voluntary plan from the beginning 
the church beyond doubt would be much farther ad- 
vanced in heathen lands than we now find it. Our 
mottoes are, first, hire no one to attend preaching or to 
learn the doctrine. Support no native evangelist. 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 321 

Second, build no chapels for native churches with 
foreign funds. Third, let foreign funds go to support 
the work of foreign missionaries, and let the natives 
look to themselves. T. P. Crawford. 

Note. — The latter part of this report has not been found. 



Teng Chow, Nov. 16, 1876. 
Bishop Russell, D. D., C. M. S., Ningpo, China. 

Dear Brother: — On my return from Japan a few 
weeks since I was shown a letter from you to Dr. 
Nevius regarding the paper adopted by a meeting 
of missionaries at Chefoo in August last, in which 
they agreed to use Shangti, Tien Chu, and Shen inter- 
changeably for Jehovah, Lord, and God, as circum- 
stances may require, etc. I need not quote the exact 
language of the document, as you doubtless have a 
copy of it in your possession, but as you ask for 
information regarding its real intention, I feel at 
liberty, since I was a member of the meeting and 
aided in drafting the words agreed upon, to offer a 
few explanations: 

1. The agreement is based on the conviction that 
these three terms, Shangti, Tien Chu, and Shen, have 
all become firmly established in our nomenclature as 
designations of the Divine Being whom we worship 
under the appellations of Jehovah, Lord, and God, 
and that therefore further controversy on the sub- 
ject is unnecessary and hurtful. 

2. The agreement is not a compromise, a victory, or 
a sacrifice of principle on the part of any one, but 



322 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

simply a treaty of peace alike honorable to all and 
beneficial to our common Christianity. 

3. It purposely avoids details and accepts the terms 
of Ti, Chu, and Shen, as the substitutes for Jehovah, 
Lord, and God, without defining which is which, or 
when and how the accompanying adjectives shall be 
used, leaving every one at liberty to follow his own 
perceptions of fitness and propriety in all cases. 

4. This was done under the conviction that Chinese 
perceptions of the generic and the specific, the sin- 
gular and the plural, the perspicuous and the am- 
biguous, the respectful and the disrespectful, the poetic 
and the prosaic, are not always parallel with those 
of the sacred authors, and therefore both speaker 
and translator should be left free to vary the terms 
for the Divinity, according to the context and to the 
idiom of the Chinese language. 

5. If a sufficient number of missionaries are found 
agreeing substantially with the proposals in that 
paper, then, after some terms or term for Spirit have 
been settled upon by them, further steps will, of 
course, be taken to settle the necessary details and to 
appoint a committee of most judicious brethren to 
produce a union version of the Scriptures, or to con- 
form those already in existence to the principles 
adopted. I was greatly pleased that you favor the pro- 
posal of the Chefoo meeting. A few of the old mis- 
sionaries in each of the parties may refuse to join the 
movement, but unless I am badly mistaken the great 
majority will heartily unite on some expression sub- 
stantially the same as that proposed by the brethren 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 323 

from various parties and places who incidentally 
met at Chefoo last summer. 
I remain, dear brother, 

Yours very truly, 

T. P. Crawford. 



Report of Teng Chow Baptist Mission for 1877. 

To Brother H. A. Tupper, D. D., Corresponding Sec- 
retary F. M. B., S. B. C, Richmond, Va. 
Dear Brother: — The operations of the mission 
have been very similar to those of last year. But its 
force has been less through the absence of the Misses 
Moon. We are happy to announce the return of Miss 
Lottie Moon on the 22A. instant to her former posi- 
tion, and regret to learn that Miss Eddie, through 
her feebleness, has abandoned the hope of resuming 
missionary labors. 

No interruption to our regular work has occurred 
except the attendance of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford on 
the missionary conference at Shanghai last spring. 
They both presented written essays on important sub- 
jects before that body, to which we would invite the 
special attention of the Board. They will be found in 
the printed report of the conference. 

Our various appointments for preaching, prayer, and 
Sunday school, with occasional trips into the country, 
have been sustained as formerly, though without any 
very marked results or special discouragements. 



324 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

The two boarding schools, male and female, under 
Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Holmes, have been full 
through the year, and respectable progress has been 
made by most of the pupils. The church has grown 
steadily, though slowly, in numbers and in the knowl- 
edge necessary to make it an efficient body. The 
members are encouraged to labor voluntarily, but no 
foreign money is used to stimulate their zeal. Late 
in the fall the Rev. Mr. Richard, of the English Bap- 
tist mission of Chefoo, moved into the distant inte- 
rior, leaving his flock permanently to our care. The 
members are at a distance from us and much scat- 
tered, which will greatly increase the labor and 
difficulty of their supervision. 

The pastor of the North Street Church returned to 
his home last spring, since which time his flock has 
been without preaching or regular meetings ; some of 
them, however, attend our services, and we do every- 
thing in our power for their spiritual good. A gen- 
eral meeting of the three churches has been appointed 
for the latter part of February, for mutual consulta- 
tion in regard to organizing according to the neces- 
sities of the case and the altered condition of affairs. 
Good results are hoped for from the anticipated 
meeting. 

Note. — Here the copy ends, the rest has not been found. 



The following was written when Dr. Crawford 
was in Boston and about to proceed to New York, 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 325 

Philadelphia and other cities to discuss mission 
methods, introducing him to ministers in New York: 

Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., Dec. 3, 1878. 

This is to certify that I have formed a most delight- 
ful acquaintance with Rev. T. P. Crawford, the bearer, 
who for nearly thirty years has been a missionary in 
China, under the auspices of the Southern Baptist 
Board, and I find Mr. Crawford a most intelligent, 
instructive and interesting Christian gentleman, com- 
petent to impart very valuable opinions on some of 
the gravest problems connected with missionary en- 
terprise, both as it relates to home and to foreign 
fields. Before he goes South to meet his brethren 
there, he will spend a few weeks in the City of New 
York, as he has been spending his time in Boston, 
meeting and conversing with the managers of mis- 
sionary societies and with ministers in that circle, 
making upon all a most excellent impression. 

W. S. McKenzie, 
District Secretary A. B. M. U. 



The following letter was addressed to the mission- 
aries of the American Baptist Missionary Union at 
Ningpo : 

Teng Chow, Oct. 7, 1880. 

Dear Brethren : — I greatly desire to be present at 
the association and join with you in your deliberations 
regarding our common Zion, but for various reasons 
will not be able to do so. 



326 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

You will see from the letter of our church that it 
has appointed delegates and asked to be received as a 
member of the association. I hope our Brother Kiang 
Khu An Ao will be present as the representative of 
our church and that both he and the church will be 
received by the association as members of the body. 

You will see from the native letter that we have re- 
quested the association to consider the following prop- 
ositions : ( i ) Who shall and how may we determine 
whether a church is dissolved or has ceased to exist? 
(2) Who shall succeed to the property of a defunct 
church ? 

We have a question on hand as to the existence or 
non-existence of a church where there is a consid- 
erable amount of money and other property at stake, 
as well as the question as to whether it would be 
proper to receive such of its members as wish to con- 
tinue their Christian profession, into the fellowship 
of our church without letters of dismission. I hope 
therefore that the brethren of the association will first 
consider the question proposed by our church in its 
isolated position, and use their influence to secure the 
appointment of a standing committee composed of 
three missionaries and two native brethren, to whom 
we can present the case for instruction. I should 
also like for Dr. Yates and Wong Ping San to be on 
that committee, together with three brethren of 
Ningpo. 

We are getting on quietly here, and no special in- 
terest in our work, but a slow, steady growth is going 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 327 

on among us. Pray for us. May the Lord have us all 
in His merciful keeping is the prayer of 

Yours very truly, 

T. P. Crawford. 

Note. — This letter was written several years before Dr. 
Crawford's mind had been awakened in regard to religious 
organizations. A few years later his views differed radically 
from those expressed above in regard to the functions and 
powers of the association. 



When Messrs. Richard and Jones, of the English 
Baptist mission, moved to Ching Chow, they re- 
quested the Monument Street Church of Teng Chow 
to receive as members and care for the scattered 
converts they were leaving in and around Chefoo. 
Many of the Christians did unite with the Monument 
Street Church, while others joined with the China 
Inland Mission Church, nearer to them. Mr. Jones 
wrote the following letter to Dr. Crawford: 

Chefoo, Aug. 24, 1880. 

Dear Dr. Crawford: — On yesterday I went to 
Tsung Kia to see the converts there, having some 
time on hand. I told them it was Richard's and my 
wish that all of these small churches and scattered 
members should amalgamate with your church. They 
said they had amalgamated — "Oh, it was all right" — 
and they seemed to feel all square. Well, I told them 
I did not feel so sure that you and your church viewed 
it in that light. "Well, yes," they replied, "there 



328 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

are difficulties, too/' mainly distance, illiterateness, 
and no leader. 

They said they feared that you expected them to 
go very frequently to the city for worship. I told 
them I thought they should go some times to sacra- 
ment there. This they assented to and seemed willing. 

They admitted to me that there had been some 
dissent ionists who were not willing to join with the city 
church, and asked me to explain to you that you must 
not think that because one-third or so were dissatis- 
fied, that therefore all were thus dissatisfied at joining. 

They said that they would like occasionally to have 
visits from you, but would invariably like to be in- 
formed beforehand ; and if it were convenient to let 
them have the sacrament at their native villages, so 
best for them. 

They in their illiterateness feel the pressure of the 
need of an occasional helper, and begged hard for 
your deacon to come to them once a month to lead 
their worship and teach them. 

I told them I would freely supply them with books, 
and in the summer when Lao Wu came home his aid 
would be at their disposal. I further told them that 
we would place no hindrance to the present or ulti- 
mate conveyance of the mission premises to you, if 
desired. 

Finally, I promised that you would acquaint them 
of your next church meeting, and then they could go, 
appoint one of their own number to go formally, if 
necessary, and give in their adhesion irrespective of 
Chao Yuen or the Pei Kieh Kiao Hui. 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 329 

I also cautioned them against the master and dis- 
ciple spirit being carried into Christianity, and after 
assurances of your disinterestedness I left them, hav- 
ing had a very enjoyable time. 

Nothing further occurs to me to say at present only 
that I was quite unable even to "smell" any other ulti- 
mate cause of trouble, and I put it as strongly as I 
could to them to act for themselves no matter what 
others thought. 

With kind regards to Mrs. and Miss C. and td 
Fred, believe me 

Very sincerely yours, 

Alfred Jones. 



The following was written to a missionary friend 
in Shanghai: 

Teng Chow, May 22, 1881. 

My Dear Brother: — I have received the histories 
you sent me in good order, for which please receive 
my sincere thanks. I note what you say about the 
arrangements of the names, and will endeavor to fol- 
low your suggestions. I shall get the work out as 
soon as possible, but I can find very little time to 
devote to such labors, and so it may be a good while 
before it appears. 

I observe that you say, "I have not had time to 
read your last paper in the Recorder/' and that "I 
do not have much faith in the ancient history of 



22 



330 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

China." Also that "I am rather of the Fergusson 
school on the subject." 

Now, this shows that you have quite failed to get 
hold of the object of my articles in the Recorder, 
which is comparative ancient chronology — not the 
antiquity of China. My field of research is chiefly 
beyond that of Mr. Fergusson's — that is, from the 
beginning of the Hia dynasty, or the call of Abraham 
back to the beginning of human history, while Mr. 
F.'s is from the reign of Hwong Ti, B. C. 2744 down- 
wards. Mine is upward, ancient and general; his 
downward, modern and particular. There is no sort 
of conflict between us. My belief is that all the 
annals from Hwong Ti upward, found in the Chinese 
histories, are borrowed, and came from the same 
source as those in Genesis, Berosus and Manetho. 
They are no more a part of Chinese history than 
those of Genesis are a part of English history, and 
all that Mr. Fergusson says may be true without 
affecting my subject in the least. I have in store still 
one more article of translation besides the one now at 
press, and then an essay on the ancient dynasties of 
Genesis, Babylon, China and Egypt compared together, 
including perhaps those of Persia. My difficulty about 
Persia is that I cannot get hold of a work containing 
its ancient annals, although I know they exist in full 
detail. If you know of such a work among your 
friends at Shanghai and can get it for me, I shall be 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 331 

under lasting obligations for it as well as for many 
other favors. 

With kind remembrance, 

Yours as ever, 

T. P. Crawford. 

Note. — He afterwards found a volume on Persian antiqui- 
ties and was able to incorporate these annals with those of 
the other ancient nations mentioned in his as yet unpublished 
Reign of Man. 



The following letter was written to his son, then 
in the Protestant Collegiate School at Chefoo: 

Teng Chow,, Nov. 14, 1883. 
Dear Fred : — It has been a long time since I wrote 
to you, but I think about you and pray for you every 
day and night. I am so glad you keep well and get 
on so bravely at school. I hope you had a splendid 
time over poor old Guy Fauks. He has been burnt 
so frequently that even his bones have long since 
been consumed, even the ashes have been burned up 
years ago. You are now only burning their shadow. 
All of your cousins and coasines in America ask 
about you when they write. Minnie was out of bed 
the last time she wrote, but was very feeble. Mrs. 
Shaw and Bessie took tea with us on Saturday and 
talked about you. Mr. Holcomb is very well and 
much enjoyed his letter and drawing from "Sir Alfred 
of the Out Isles." Miss Moon and Mr. and Mrs. 
Pruitt and everybody send their love to "Sir Alfred." 
I hope Sir Alfred will be able to conquer every foe, 



332 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

especially bogies, ghosts and hobgoblins. There are 
no such things in heaven or earth, in the light or in 
the darkness, by day or by night. They are only in 
our own notions, and my dear old mother whipped 
them all out of me when I was a small chap. I am 
now very glad she did, for none have ever troubled 
me since and never will any more. 

With very much love to yourself, and a pint or so 
for Jimmie and Harry, Papa. 



This letter is from Mrs. Crawford to her son Alfred, 
then in school in Chefoo: 

Oct. 13, 1884. 

My Dear Fred: — Your last came while I was in 
the country. This morning I had a long letter from 
Minnie, who sent love to you from herself and Mr. 
Jones. I hope she will be here by Christmas. 

Mrs. Elliston writes me that you are to have a 
little room-mate, which I know will please you very 
much. I hope you will be an example to him of all 
that is good, noble, true, manly and honorable. You 
know he will look up to you and will be very much 
under your influence. Of course an example cannot 
be put on, or made for the occasion, for whatever a 
man really is that will be the example he will give to 
those who know him well. No mother would be 
willing for her son to room with persons who would 
lead him into wrong-doing, and I do trust that my 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 333 

Fred will feel this responsibility. Be very kind to the 
little fellow and lead him into right ways. 

Affectionately, 

Mamma. 



The following letter was written to Mrs. Crawford 
in Teng Chow: 

Tuscaloosa, Ala., May 26, 1886. 

Dear Wife: — I wrote you two letters from Mont- 
gomery after the close of the convention, the first a 
very long one — twenty-two pages. I left there on 
Wednesday, the 19th, passed through Selma without 
stopping, and came on to Marion — gave a short talk 
at their regular prayer-meeting. And on account of 
the meeting of the Press Association there on the fol- 
lowing Monday, I thought it best not to remain, so on 
last Friday night I reached here. Cousin Joshua met 
me at the depot and took me to his house, where I re- 
mained over Sunday very comfortably. His wife was 
indisposed and I did not get to see her. His children 
were all at home except the preacher son, who is now 
at the Seminary in Louisville. He has an interesting 
family. Henry, like Webb, is a candidate for the 
Legislature without opposition. 

I found cousin Joshua a very interesting man, and 
in full sympathy with my views on missions and all 
Baptist matters. On Sunday morning I preached in 
the new, commodious Baptist church, which was 
packed to overflowing; subject The Poverty of Christ 
Enriches the World. I had good attention and the 



334 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

"glow" on. At night I lectured on missions to a full 
house. Dr. Henderson, pastor of the church in North- 
port, and a Presbyterian minister were present. On 
last night (Tuesday) I delivered my first lecture on 
the Races of Men. Am to lecture again tonight and 
tomorrow night on the same theme. Then I begin 
Sunday at Northport, giving the same number of 
talks as here. The Sunday following I begin then, 
at Birmingham. Then go to Memphis and West Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky and other places. 

Brother Dave came to see me at cousin Joshua's 
early Sunday morning and took me on Monday morn- 
ing to domicile with him. He and wife are making 
me very comfortable, doctoring me up with dyspepsia 
bitters and buttermilk. Their children are at home, 
but they do not seem very robust. He is doing well, 
I suppose. I saw your cousin, Martha Hill, at church, 
and some other relatives. I am now writing on Dave's 
veranda, and Miss Bannie Dent, an old acquaintance 
of yours, has just been introduced — she sends her 
love to you. I must tell you, while I was lying down 
on Monday afternoon, in walked a colored woman who 
came to my bedside and, offering her hand, said, "You 
don't know me?" I said, "No, who are you?" "I 
am Rachel — am living in Northport, and have come 
over to see you and hear about Miss Martha." I was 
so glad to see her, held her a long time by the hand, 
made her pull off her hat and let me look at her, 
inquired all about how she was getting on and about 
her mother and every one of the colored family. She 
seemed so warm-hearted, had such an affectionate re- 



LITERARY WORK, LETTERS, CONCLUSION. 335 

membrance of you, of our departure from Carthage, 
of her looking through the fence and weeping bitterly 
as we drove away in the buggy in 1851. All told, she 
quite won my heart and I did exceedingly enjoy her 
visit. Her mother is dead, you know. Her sister 
Frank is also in Northport, and will come to see me. 
She has lost sight of all the rest of her brothers and 
sisters. Rachel is a nice, good woman, and is doing 
well for herself. She wants you to come back, and 
wants us to set up housekeeping and she live with us 
all our days, waiting on us, etc. I said, "If we do so, 
it's a bargain and you shall be our housekeeper/ ' 



CHAPTER XXIX. 
A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 

i. 

God leads his saints in wondrous ways, 

His purpose to fulfill; 
He gives them grace to choose their course, 

And works his sovereign will. 
Supported by his loving hands 

They rise upon their feet; 
He bids them go — run to and fro, 

And make their strength complete. 
Some run at first with eager haste, 

And down they fall with pain; 
The Father kindly lifts them up, 

And bids them start again. 
Some feeble ones begin to move, 

Then hesitate from fear; 
To such he gently says : "Fear not, 

Your Father's arms are here. ,, 
He lets them stumble, totter, err; 

He does not let them go, 
But turns their weakness into strength, 

And makes them wiser grow. 

2. 

Betimes, he sends them forth to work — 

To cultivate his field, 
To break the sod and sow the seed, 

Regardless of the yield. 
He lets them reap the seed they sow, 

Allots to each his share, 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 337 

Maintains their right to all they own, 

And thus he proves his care. 
His way — so holy, just and true, 

So loving and complete — 
Sends through their souls a living thrill 

That makes their service sweet. 
They hence revere His Holy Name, 

Perceive with clearest ken 
That justice sways his sovereign mind, 

And feel themselves free men — 
Not free to sin and dissipate, 

Like slave on holiday; 
But free from Fate and carnal bonds, 

Yet bound in Christ for aye. 
'Tis thus they love the Lord their God, 

And love their neighbor too; 
'Tis thus they keep his righteous law, 

And pay their debts when due. 



The Lord has set his saints in flocks — 

In churches large and small; 
Like sheep they love to congregate, 

Dependent each on all; 
Like sheep they have an aptitude 

To hear a shepherd's voice, 
To follow him with ready step, 

And in his care rejoice. 
The faithful shepherd knows his. sheep, 

And counts them one by one; 
He leads them forth to pastures green, 

And guards them as his own. 
Such shepherds, born and called of God, 

Are blest with courage bold, 
To keep the wolves beyond the flock, 

The goats without the fold. 



338 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

True pastors love the cause of Christ, 

The people in their care, 
And seek their good by day and night, 

With trembling, hope and fear. 
They look for their reward above, 

Where Jesus sits enthroned; 
Their hearts and aims to him respond 

Whose life for us atoned. 



Such do not cringe before the strong, 

Nor trample on the weak; 
But show respect to every one, 

In ways both just and meek. 
They do not strive for worldly fame; 

Nor force, nor bribe, nor lie 
To draw disciples after them, 

"To make their colors fly." 
They do not act the double part, 

As certain "wise ones" do, 
Who shrewdly claim to hold the right, 

And still the wrong pursue. 
Nor do they serve the cause for gain, 

Or seek an easy place, 
Since Christ their Lord was crucified 

To save a fallen race. 
They feel impelled by Christ's command, 

The gospel to proclaim — 
To preach to sinners, old and young, 

Salvation in his name — 
His name alone, and boldly say 

To ever-erring men, 
Trust not in works or outward rites, 

"Ye must be born again." 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 339 

5- 

"Salvation! O the joyful sound," 

The gift of God Triune ! 
'Tis thus we have our second birth, 

Our life with Christ attune; 
'Tis thus we wear his sacred name, 

And bear his cross while here; 
'Tis thus we brace our courage up, 

And wait till he appear. 
"'Tis grace — free grace — the work must crown 

Through everlasting days ; 
It lays in heaven the topmost stone, 

And well deserves the praise." 
'Tis grace, through faith in Jesus' blood, 

That breaks the sinner's heart, 
That brings him weeping to the cross, 

And makes his sins depart; 
That fits him for his duties here, 

For stations low and high; 
For every work beneath the sun, 

And life beyond the sky. 



A Christian church must follow Christ, 

The way, the truth, the life; 
Must worship him with lowly mind, 

Above all carnal strife; 
Must be the home of loving saints, 

With welcome warm and free. 
With helping words for struggling souls 

On life's tempestuous sea; 
Must truly be the house of God, 

A temple for the Holy Ghost; 
A beacon light that streams afar 

Along life's dang'rous coast. 



340 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

7- 

Such church must rest on solid rock, 

And not on glitt'ring sand; 
Must rise in Christ her living Head, 

A self-denying band; 
A consecrated, active band, 

To do his high behest, 
That weary, heavy-laden souls 

May come to him for rest. 
"Elect of God"— a "chosen" band 

To suffer loss and shame, 
To be reviled and ostracised 

In honor of his name. 
"Elect of God" to persevere 

Through good and ill report, 
To frown upon the ways of sin, 

And give the right support; 
To hand the faith from age to age, 

To make no substitutes; 
To serve the Lord as he enjoins, 

And not as fancy suits. 
'Tis thus each church should clearly be 

The Body of the Lord, 
Assembling every Sabbath day 

To carry out his word; 
A congregation formed of saints, 

A holy brotherhood, 
Impelled by God and mutual love 

To seek each other's good. 
A poet true has sung her praise 

With unpretending art — 
Her power to charm and elevate 

The truly pious heart: 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 341 



8. 



"Well, wife, I've found the model church, 

And worshipped there to-day; 
It made me think of good old times, 

Before my hair was grey; 
The meeting-house was finer built 

Than they were years ago; 
But then I found, when I went in, 

It was not built for show. 

9- 

"The sexton did not set me down 

Away back by the door; 
He knew that I was old and deaf, 

And saw that I was poor. 
He must have been a Christian man, 

He led me boldly through 
The crowded aisle of that grand church 

To find a pleasant pew. 

10. 

"I wish you'd heard the singing, wife, 

It had the old-time ring — 
The preacher said, with trumpet voice, 

'Let all the people sing* ! 
'All hail the power/ was the hymn; 

The music upward rolled, 
Until I thought the angel choir 

Struck all their harps of gold. 

11. 

"My deafness seemed to melt away, 

My spirit caught the fire; 
I joined my feeble, trembling voice 

With that melodious choir. 



342 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

I sang as in my youthful days, 

'Let angels prostrate fall! 
Bring forth the royal diadem 

And crown him Lord of all.' 

12. 

"I tell you, wife, it did me good 

To sing that song once more, 
I felt like some wreck'd mariner 

Who gets a glimpse of shore — 
I almost want to lay aside 

This weather-beaten form, 
And anchor in that blessed port 

Forever from the storm. 

13. 

" Twas not a flow'ry sermon, wife, 

But simple gospel truth; 
It suited humble men like me, 

It suited hopeful youth. 
To win immortal souls to Christ 

The earnest preacher tried; 
He talked not of himself or creed, 

But Jesus crucified. 

14. 

"Dear wife, the toil will soon be o'er, 

The vic'try soon be won; 
The shining land is just ahead, 

Our race is nearly run. 
We're nearing Canaan's happy shore, 

Our home so bright and fair ; 
In heaven above no sin is found, 

And there's no sorrow there." 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 343 



15. 



The model church ! her ornaments 

How simple, yet how meet ! 
We love her courts, her inner life, 

So charming and so sweet! 
The vain, the "loud," the selfish type 

Be gone ! forever gone ! 
And let our people learn of Christ, 

The meek and lowly one. 

16. 

Each church is called to rule herself — 

In Christ complete, though small; 
Her laws are found in Holy Writ, 

Her rule the vote of all. 
She owns allegiance to her Lord, 

And knows no earthly head; 
She trusts in his directing power, 

None other comes instead. 
Christ fills her soul with love divine 

For truth and freedom's cause; 
He has no slaves within his realm, 

Nor code of servile laws. 
He sets her free from worldly cares, 

And burthens not his own, 
And calls her to his noblest work, 

To make his gospel known. 

17. 

She has no part in specious schemes, 

Nor union with the State ; 
No tribute brings to "pious rings," 

Or "saintly syndicate." 
She guards her rights with watchful eye, 

And in their due defense 



344 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Declines the "aid" of "Alphabets," 

With all their kind pretense. 
She spends no time or funds on show, 

Nor votes to build a spire 
Surpassing all within the town 

To make the folks admire ! 
She never tampers with God's word, 

Nor tampers with her own; 
But meets her pledges "honor bright," 

And thus she holds her crown. 
The Lord's appointed work she does 

With steady, cheerful mind, 
And keeps it up from year to year 

With all her strength combined. 
Such church — with moral vision clear, 

With spirit kind and just, 
With faith and practice reconciled — 

Performs her sacred trust. 

18. 

The mission work to her belongs — 

The Lord did so ordain, 
And holds her bound by his command 

To rule in this domain. 
In her domain — the gospel sphere — 

Each church, as such, must use 
Her men, her means, and all her gifts 

To spread the saving news. 
She plans her work with prayerful thought, 

Her pastor leads the way, 
Her members join with one accord 

To serve, to give, to pray. 
She sends her chosen heralds forth 

To regions far and near, 
To men at home and men abroad, 

To sinners everywhere; 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 345 

They cry: "Behold the Lamb of God, 

The Saviour lifted high! 
Behold his side for sinners pierced; 

Behold him bleed and die! 
For you his precious blood was shed, 

Your griefs on him were laid; 
Repent and trust his saving love, 

Your ransom price he paid !" 

19. 

Some go to rude, benighted lands, 

To preach — not "civilize," 
To make their carnal hearts anew, 

And not to "formalize." 
They put no trust in rites or modes, 

In science, tool or skill 
To re-construct the human soul, 

Or change the carnal will. 
They trust the power of gospel truth, 

The spirit's work beside, 
To form the new, the Christian life, 

And make that life abide. 
They sow in tears the precious seed, 

And wait the harvest time; 
To reap the known unripened grain 

Would be to them a crime. 
They study well their mission fields, 

And what the Lord commands; 
Nor do they heed impatient cries 

For "mass-converting plans." 
Such "plans" are not approved of Christ, 

That's not the way it's done ; 
He never saves men's souls en masse. 

He saves them one by one. 
23 



346 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Impatience is a dang'rous vice — 

An Anglo-Saxon trend, 
The parent source of countless woes, 

And errors without end. 

20. 

Such go to lay foundations deep, 

And not to "temporize ;" 
To do a self-sustaining work, 

And not to "subsidize." 
They ne'er degrade the native church, 

Nor call for "pious gold" 
To feed a "host of parasites," 

And codlings in the fold. 
Nor do they seek to make "a noise" 

By writing "grand reports" 
That laud their labors for effect, 

Or stoop to such resorts. 
They feel themselves in conscience bound 

To state unvarnished fact; 
Respect the churches' right to know 

The way their servants act. 
These love their brethren in the work, 

Observe fraternal laws, 
And stand together for the truth, 

The safety of the cause — 
The safety of our Christian life, 

Our church and mission weal — 
Depend alike on fellowship 

In Scripture, faith and zeal. 

21. 

Co-operation is the plan, 
The churches with their peers, 

And with their workers on the field, 
In mutual love and cares. 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 347 

Then let the saints throughout the land — 

Our churches one and all, 
In cities, towns, and country round 

Obey the Saviour's call; 
Arrange themselves in helping groups — 

Not over large or small — 
And send their gospel heralds for^th 

Around this earthly ball. 
How charming is such work of love ! 

How sweet their tidings are 
To burthened souls in every place, 

To sinners in despair ! 

22. 

The promised day is giving signs, 

The night begins to flee ! 
A glimmering light to gild the skies — 

The dawning jubilee ! 
A captive world begins to wake, 

The blinded eyes to see ! 
A voice from heaven seems now to say; 

"Set all the nations free !" 
Go sound the trump ! Go tell the news ! 

Go cry, the Lord is come 
To save his people from the chains, 

And lead His ransomed home ! 

23. 

OUR WILL. 

We now are growing old and worn, 

Near four-score years are run; 
Our mission jubilee is nigh, 

Our work will soon be done. 



348 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

Our fields with all our growing grain* 

We do hereby bequeath 
To you — the people of our love, 

The churches of our faith. 
Dear brethren in the Lord, farewell, 

Our parting song is o'er; 
We soon shall sing with you again, 

Where partings are no more. 

* [These fields are in and around the cities of Shanghai, 
Teng Chow, Ping Tu and Taian, China.] 

24. 

OUR PRAYER. 

O God of peace, cause wrong to cease 

For thy name's sake ; 

Let all partake — 
And give thy people rest, 
In love and Thee. 

Bid doubts subside, and faith abide 

Among thy saints ; 

Remove restraints — 
And give thy people rest, 
In love and Thee. 

Thy grace impart to every heart, 

Our sins forgive; 

As we forgive — 
And give thy people rest, 

In love and Thee. 

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done — 

Not his or mine; 

But only Thine — 
Here let thy people rest, 

In love and Thee. 



A POEM FOR THE CHURCHES. 349 

Conclusion. 

Though many trials, dangers and toils fell to the lot 
of these two servants of the Lord during the more 
than half century they labored in China, though called 
upon to bear reproaches and ostracism at the hands 
of their friends in the beloved home land, "none of 
these things moved them" one step from their blessed 
work. Always, amidst the vivid flashes of the light- 
ning, and the mad fury and thunder of the storm, they 
heard the Master's voice whispering, "Peace, be still/' 
They were sustained by the power of the same loving, 
almighty Saviour whom they preached to the Chinese 
sinners. Nothing was so grateful and so encourag- 
ing to their wearied spirits as to hear one of these 
redeemed heathen say, "This is a new way. Our 
literary men despise it, our common people reject it, 
our relatives hate it; nothing but obloquy, persecu- 
tion, pecuniary loss will follow its acceptance. But my 
soul is more precious to me than all the glory and 
riches of the world." 

As that regenerated heathen counted all these as 
nothing compared with eternal life, and as Paul 
"counted all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus," so with these servants 
of the blessed Master, the raging of the heathen and 
the reproaches of friends weighed nothing, as they 
had respect unto the recompense of the reward, and 



350 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

looked at the things which are not seen, but eternal, 
and could joyfully sing: 

Thou, Lord, dost reign o'er Thy domain, 

From wrong and error free; 
Whate'er may come, whate'er be done, 

We trust, O Lord, in Thee. 

The waves run high and lash the sky, 

No light or rest we see ; 
Whate'er may come, whate'er be done, 

We trust, O Lord, in Thee. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX. 

A System of Phonetic Symbols for Writing the 
Dialects of China. 

"The introduction of thousands of ideas connected 
with the incoming of Christianity, and the western 
world, will necessitate the adoption of a phonetic sys- 
tem for writing the dialects of China. The ideographic 
characters of the wen li have reached the limit of their 
capacity, and are sinking under the burden with which 
they are freighted. Through the course of ages they 
have become so numerous and complicated in form 
and sense as to place their acquaintance hopelessly 
beyond the reach of the common people, seven-tenths 
of whom are now wholly unable to read intelligently. 
Not only so, but every addition which foreign inter- 
course may introduce will tend to increase the diffi- 
culty and consequently tend to diminish the proportion 
of scholars. But new subjects, new relations and 
new ideas must continue to force themselves upon the 
attention of the people from every direction, demand- 
ing both verbal and written expression in some way. 
The common characters being already complete and 
crystallized around the thought of the past, and there- 
fore unable to meet the requirements of the age, must 
inevitably be superseded by the living dialects of the 
land, as was the case in Europe. Chinese hierogly- 
phics, like their Egyptian predecessors, are doomed to 
the tomb and the antiquary. 



354 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

"Already China's works on military tactics, medi- 
cine, religion, philosophy and astronomy are obsolete, 
while her other heathen productions are hastening to 
that bourne whence hieroglyphics never return. 
Neither Greek nor Latin became the medium of com- 
munication in modern Europe. In every case the dia- 
lects of the various sections came to the front, some of 
which are now the richest languages the world ever 
saw. To my thought, if ever intellectual activity 
begins in this land it must begin largely through oral 
communication and be developed by a phonetic litera- 
ture. The sooner our missionaries set about its 
introduction the better it will be for the people. Only 
the dialects have life, and out of them must come the 
future China. A very little encouragement from the 
missionaries in the various parts of the empire would 
give phonetic writing a start among the people, and 
when once started it would rapidly propagate itself, 
with what result let European languages speak. 

"The origin of my phonetic system : 

"In the autumn of 1852, eight or nine months after 
my arrival in Shanghai, the Rev. Charles Taylor, of 
the Southern Methodist Church, presented a well pre- 
pared paper to the Monthly Missionary Conference, 
containing, as he supposed, all the sounds of the 
Shanghai dialect, written out in Roman letters, aided 
by diacritical marks. The conference highly appre- 
ciated Dr. Taylor's labors, but realizing the impossi- 
bility of expressing correctly all the various sounds 
of the dialect by means of our alphabet, and seeing 
its utter want of adaptation to the Chinese pen and 



A SYSTEM OF PHONETIC SYMBOLS FOR WRITING 355 

habits of writing, proceeded, after a lengthy discus- 
sion of the subject, to appoint a committee of the 
older missionaries to prepare a system of symbols 
adapted to the nature of the case. The committee 
consisted of Messrs. Taylor, Syle, Yates, Wight and 
Wardner. They held their sittings in the vestry of 
the Episcopal church, near my residence, then within 
the walls of the native city. 

"Being, at that time, a newcomer, and anxious to 
learn all I could about the sounds of the strange dia- 
lect, I obtained permission to attend the meetings of 
the committee and listen to the discussions. I was 
present on every occasion and derived great benefit 
therefrom. They spent several sessions in settling 
the number and nature of the sounds to be repre- 
sented by the new alphabet, some of which puzzled 
even these older missionaries, the oldest of whom did 
not exceed seven years. Having adopted a basis of 
procedure, they agreed that each of them should make 
out a system of signs, according to the programme, 
and meet again at the call of the chairman, to decide 
upon the one to be presented to the conference. 

"One day, during this interval, Mr. Pearcy, being 
at my house, and conversing with me on the sounds 
of the dialect, remarked that, 'According to the state- 
ment of Dr. Marshman, of India, Chinese words con- 
sisted of initial and final parts, which might be writ- 
ten with two symbols/ illustrating the idea by certain 
strokes of his pencil. This first drew my attention 
to this point, and I soon found Dr. Marshman to be 
correct. Then, for my own satisfaction, I began to 



356 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

invent a series of signs for writing the dialect on the 
initial and final basis, but without any satisfactory 
result. Quite a number of seemingly good beginnings 
broke down before 'reaching the middle of Dr. Tay- 
lor's list of sounds, which perplexed me not a little. 
One day, while thus engaged, my eyes acci denta lly 
falling upon the Chinese character for door i ffl I 
the thought occurred that its form might serve as a 
basis of procedure. Turning the back of its two 
parts together, I first, leaving off all strokes but the 
two upright ones, made a number of initial signs on 
the left of the left perpendicular line, then a number 
of final signs on the right of the right perpendicular. 
This beginning, crude as it was, proved to be a start in 
the right direction, and much encouraged me, though 
the work still seemed beset with difficulties. But, 
proceeding in this way, the thought finally occurred 
to me that one perpendicular stroke would serve for 
separating the initial and final parts better than two, 
by making the characters much more simple and com- 
pact, which proved correct, (ffl) 

"In the next step onwards, the forms presented 
such an improvement over their predecessors as greatly 
to stimulate my efforts, I hoping now to produce 
something which might be useful to the committee. 
For a month or two I employed my leisure time in 
making and combining strokes on this basis, endeav- 
oring to discover those best adapted to the writing 
habits of the natives I strove, at the same time, to 
secure the greatest possible simplicity, distinctness and 
compactness for the strokes of each character, joined 



A SYSTEM OF PHONETIC SYMBOLS FOR WRITING 357 

with completeness, variety, order and beauty, for the 
system as a whole. No easy task, certainly, but one 
requiring the most intense exercise of mind, discrimi- 
nation and taste in adjusting a great variety of most 
delicate points and relations. I have never found any 
work more difficult of execution. However, by per- 
severing efforts, aided by a native teacher of excellent 
ear and penmanship, my crude beginnings finally cul- 
minated in what then seemed to be success, every- 
thing being complete except the tone marks. These 
I could not make to my satisfaction. Afterwards, 
however, I discovered other defects which had to be 
corrected. Notwithstanding these, the few friends 
to whom I showed specimens pronounced the new 
writing 'remarkable for simplicity and beauty.' While 
these labors were going on each member of the com- 
mittee was trying to make out a system of signs for 
the inspection of the call meeting, and for presenta- 
tion to the Monthly Conference. One of them took 
our capital A as his base of operations, making va- 
rious strokes on its two limbs, but, finding it would 
not serve, he gave up all further efforts. The labors 
of the other members must have had a similar termi- 
nation, as they never presented anything for the con- 
sideration of the conference. 

"After the lapse of about a year, Rev. Mr. Wight, 
presented my phonetic system to the conference, and, 
with some discussion of the subject, it was recom- 
mended for the adoption of the missionaries. A few 
of them learned to use it, also taught the Chinese 
about them both to read and write it. This usually 



358 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

required five or six days. The Gospel of Luke, Line 
Upon Line, and a few tracts were printed in it, the 
books presenting a very attractive appearance. One 
or two hundred natives learned to use it with facility, 
some of them taking pleasure in teaching it to their 
friends. Unfortunately, however, in a few years 
after its start every missionary who encouraged its 
use, including myself, had departed from Shanghai, 
leaving the infant system to shift for itself. 

"After moving to Teng Chow, in 1863, I adapted 
the Shanghai symbols, with as few changes as possi- 
ble, to the Mandarin, as spoken in the eastern por- 
tion of Shantung Province. To write the tone sign as 
an integral part of each character readily and taste- 
fully seemed to me the sine qua non of any phonetic 
system in China, since the people generally cannot be 
taught to regard the "tones" as something distinct 
from the word, to be indicated by extraneous marks. 
Neither can they learn to write correctly or to deter- 
mine the sense of unfamiliar compositions in this way. 
Failing to accomplish this object to my satisfaction, 
I finally gave up the effort. 

"Recently, however, inquiries coming both from the 
south and north of China drew my attention again to 
the system. While looking over one of my old pho- 
netic primers for the purpose of correcting some mis- 
prints before sending it away, I suddenly discovered 
a ready mode of making every tone and every final 
consonent sign, required by any dialect, as an integral 
part of each character. This unexpected discovery re- 
moved the stubborn difficulty of thirty-five years' 



A SYSTEM OF PHONETIC SYMBOLS FOR WRITING 359 

standing, and at once revived the hope of a phonetic 
literature, saturated with Christian thought for the 
millions of China. It now seemed only a question 
of time, and I again went to work upon it with re- 
newed vigor. I have spent my summer vacation in 
perfecting the system in harmony with this discovery, 
and now everything entering into the distinction of 
Chinese words has been provided for. Every kind 
of consonant — sonant, aspirate, simple, compound, 
nasal, guttural, middle, dental, labial — is given its own 
appropriate sign. Every kind of vowel — single, com- 
pound, nasal, final endings in H, k, p, t, the two tonic 
scales and each of the four tones thereon — has, every 
one, its own appropriate sign. In short, the essen- 
tial characteristics of every word are made visible to 
the eye at a glance by appropriate signs, and the whole 
is so arranged as to constitute every character a unit 
exhibiting its distinctive parts ready for immediate 
reception by the mind — a feat costing many a trial 
and many a sheet of paper. Insignificant as the pro- 
duction may seem to some, it contains the germs, as 
we trust, of untold blessings for the people of China, 
and to them and their children we respectfully dedi- 
cate these labors. 

Initial Signs. 

"i. Every initial sign is made to the left of a com- 
mon perpendicular stroke, which separates it from 
the final part of the word. 

"2. A single horizontal stroke at the top of the per- 
pendicular is the sign of the guttural consonants; an 



360 FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA. 

oblique stroke is the sign of the liquids ; a stroke near 
the middle of the perpendicular is the sign of the 
dentals; two strokes at its top is the sign of the 
labials. 

"3. A small triangle is the sign of the aspirates, the 
absence of it is the sign of the sonants ; a small square 
is the sign of the nasals. Those initials compounding 
with w have a small head placed above the principal 
stroke, those with S an oblique stroke below it. 

"4. A plain ending to the perpendicular stroke is 
the sign of high scale words, a foot to it is the sign 
of low scale words, commonly called 'high and low 
tones/ 

Final Signs. 

"1. All final signs are made to the right of the per- 
pendicular stroke and have in common a horizontal 
line with which all distinctive signs are connected. 

"2. The diphthong is a short line above the hori- 
zontal ; a short head upon it. 

"3. The tone sign is a hook to the right or to the 
left according to a given rule." 



A SYSTEM OF PHONETIC SYMBOLS FOR WRITING 361 



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No. 



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vented by Mr. Crawford for writing the 
Shanghai dialect, copied by Wong Ping 
San from Matthew, Chapter xxii: 1-4. 



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